Charlene Holkenbrink-Monk finds new research inspiration during Fulbright in Spain

The cultural immersion in Málaga proved fruitful. Charlene Holkenbrink-Monk, lecturer in sociology, won a Fulbright at the University of Málaga in Spain where she spent five months. Her goal was to help Spanish students build English language skills by utilizing photographs and sociological concepts. 

Trying to recruit students for the project proved futile — undergraduate students were simply too busy with other projects.

So, she shifted the research to match the environment. After thoughtful attention to the community and culture of Málaga, she discovered a different research path. She developed strong bonds with community members who helped her fully embrace the vibrancy of the city. It was the visual ethnography — public murals — throughout the city that helped her come up with a new plan.

“That's where I shifted gears, where I was looking at the words that were sprawled on the walls,” Holkenbrink-Monk said. She noticed gender equality, and housing rights topics in city murals and graffiti. “There's a squatter's rights movement and symbol that I didn't know existed before I was in Spain,” she said. “And it's very clear that they do a lot of their own kind of framing in terms of the visuals.” 

On the streets, she noticed political and justice-oriented artwork — most were community-based, with some commissioned. Much of the art had a Picasso-esque feel (Picasso was from Málaga). And, beyond traditional commissioned work — graffiti was prevalent. “It was the voice of the people there as opposed to it being in a formal institution,” Holkenbrink-Monk said.

She recalls a mural scrawled with the words “Eat the rich,” and right below it was a flyer about a middle-aged woman looking for employment as an apartment cleaner. This struck Holkenbrink-Monk as a social justice conundrum.

This Fulbright research has inspired her to think about San Diego’s public spaces — specifically local street art. She has noticed an emergence of it, while acknowledging some areas have displayed murals for many years. Her curiosity is piqued now, and she wants to see how San Diego neighborhoods are presenting community art across different identities.

Holkenbrink-Monk has created a survey for San Diego residents to describe their perspectives on street art in their neighborhoods. “I'm looking at perspectives and neighborhoods around various modes of street art from a community representation and equity perspective,” she said.

Through inspiration from Spain, Holkenbrink-Monk has found new insight on community-based artwork in San Diego and tapped a new research goal — share the social commentary of public art and preserve the rich culture of the city.