{"id":4761,"date":"2025-10-27T15:08:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/?post_type=profile&p=4761"},"modified":"2025-10-31T09:16:59","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:16:59","slug":"ben-andreesen","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/profiles\/ben-andreesen\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Andreesen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m an anthropology and environmental science major. I was awarded the ASPIRE grant for my research “Painting into Presence: Muralism in Cartagena.” Urban street art is often categorized as a tool of residents to contest oppressive power structures, but some also argue it can also lead to the displacement of neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to analyze this tension in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, where a new wave of muralism has presented itself as both a catalyst of gentrification and “everyday resistance.” I also wanted to expand that by understanding the conditions under which artists paint in public spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roots of art and research<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I first went to Cartagena during my gap year summer 2023, volunteering for an environmental justice nonprofit. Cartagena has a historic city center that dates to the time of Spanish colonization, and it has a complicated history. Part of the old city housed rich Spaniards, while enslaved and indigenous people lived in another part within the historic walls. The area was revitalized in the 1980s, including new street art, and now it’s almost entirely for tourists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dynamic creates two parallel Cartagenas: a historic center that reflects riches and conquistadors, and the wider city where regular people live and work. I was curious about the murals in all parts of the city — I wanted to know if any of the murals were painted by local artists, and how they reflected the history of of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connecting in Cartagena<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I returned to Cartagena for two more summers to focus on street art. In 2024 I had a grant from the Department of Anthropology that allowed me to interview 20 artists. I had found that almost everyone who painted in the historic center were international artists, so I started going where artists were painting in their own neighborhoods. I had to start small, and reached out to one of the only female graffiti artists in the city. She connected me with other artists, and the two main street art collectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I relied on those contacts when I returned in 2025 on the ASPIRE research grant, with a goal of learning more about how the artists use their own life experiences and turn it something that can be shared: a story to tell. I had to build relationships with the artists as quickly as possible. I went to exhibitions, hung out at shops where they sold spray paint, and even started popping up at the site of murals when I saw Instagram posts about where they were painting just to observe the artists at work. I narrowed in on seven essential artists who were extremely active, and did more formal interviews with them, and completed more archival work when I returned home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local stories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most of the artists I talked with are painting other aesthetics than what you might see in the historic city center. They tell a story of marginalized Cartagena and the art makes a shared identity more visual, and tangible. The art tells a different story, and often includes key symbols: fish, for the fishing economy, blue crabs, which tell the story of how the islands appeared, and other icons that have meaning to Cartagenero residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think public space is supposed to be shared by everyone, and everyone has a claim to it. It’s a shared space that shows some of the conversations that are happening, from what is painted to what is covered up, or how artists create new messages over existing ones. Block to block, the messages and art change. Cartagena would still look different from any other part of the country but the art helps you see where the conversations come from and how it is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have been so grateful to URSCA for this opportunity. Qualitative research was not something I ever expected I would be able to do. I was able to take that summer experience two years ago and turn it into something which will be the basis for a future PhD. I plan to present my research at the National Research Conference at the University of Pennsylvania this year. I’m also applying to a Fulbright so I can go back to Cartagena and expand my research before continuing my academic studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was able to take that summer experience and turn it into something which will be the basis for a future PhD. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4779,"template":"","profiletype":[70],"class_list":["post-4761","profile","type-profile","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profiletype-research-profile"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/4761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/4761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4815,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/4761\/revisions\/4815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profiletype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krieger.jhu.edu\/ursca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiletype?post=4761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}