My name is Fabianna Silva and I’m starting my second year at Florida State. I’m pursuing a dual degree, one degree in International Affairs with a concentration in Economics double majoring in French, and the other in Theatre on a Performance Track. I am also pursuing the Global Citizenship Certificate, an academic certificate with FSU’s Center for Global Engagement.
I am from Maracaibo, Venezuela, and I lived in Mexico and Spain as a child before moving to Weston, Florida where I grew up. For my summer experience, I am doing a summer semester abroad with FSU International Programs to do the Paris French Intensive Program. While I am there, I will be pursuing the question “How does street art serve as a form of expression and public discourse in Paris?”
French has been a large part of my life since I was eleven. I’ve been taking French courses for eight years, I participated in a French competition for three years, I worked my way up to president of French Honor Society in highschool, and I volunteered at a French summer camp as a counselor. After surrounding myself with this language and the many cultures that go with it for so many years, I really wanted to finally go to a French speaking country and apply my knowledge. So, when I found out FSU offered a month-long French Intensive program, I knew I wanted it to be my summer experience.
What led me to my research question was a series of things. I wanted to combine my love for the arts and creativity with my passion for social sciences and culture studies. So, at first, I landed on researching theatre as social commentary in Paris. However, the pursuit of this question, while very interesting, was not feasible as it would involve me going to theatres multiple times a week, likely by myself in a city I don’t know, it would be expensive because I’d be buying multiple tickets a week, and it would be too time intensive to juggle along with my courses. But then, I watched the film La Haine, directed by Matthieu Kassovitz, in my French class, and this film made me think a lot. Not just about the social problems presented in the movie or the tragedy that comes out of violence, but also about how the people of the Parisian banlieues (lower income neighborhoods on the outskirts of Paris, where the movie largely takes place) use street art to express themselves and to discuss the struggles of life in the banlieues. We see people breakdancing, we see graffiti, and we hear people mash up songs together to create new meaning and express what they are feeling. The film features a lot of street art and how people channel what they are going through and convey meaning through that art. This is what led me to wanting to research how street art serves as a form of expression and public discourse in Paris.
As I will be staying in the city, my research will be focused in the city rather than the outskirts like where La Haine takes place. Once I arrive, I will decide if I keep my question broad and stick to “street art,” or if I will narrow it down to one form, which would likely be graffiti. I am very excited to see what the city of Paris has to offer me, and even more excited to see what I will find street art wise. I honestly do expect to switch to focusing just on graffiti as after interviewing my French teacher and looking at the already existing literature on the topic, I’ve noticed that graffiti is the main source of street art in Paris by far. As my French teacher Dr. Joos told me, Paris is not Paris without its graffiti; Graffiti is a part of the Parisian landscape. But who knows, if it’s feasible, maybe I’ll decide to stay broad and fill that gap in the existing literature on street art in Paris. But I’m open to everything and am looking forward to starting my summer experience!
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