Peace and War in Our Bodies and Minds : Public Subversion vs. Mass Totalization

Abstract

This article explores the political impact of street art and symbolic creativity in challenging official hegemony. It focuses on the Russian case of social conflict around the 2022 war in Ukraine, specifically analyzing pro-war “Z” propaganda and anti-war resistance in different cities. Using post-structuralist and visual biopolitical perspectives, the article examines the meaning and effects of “Z-tification” and the underground resistance to it. It argues that visual biopolitics reveals hidden aspects of political agency in a conformist society, and that Glynos and Howarth’s explanatory logics approach highlights the nature of popular protests. The research is based on an analysis of visual material from both oppositional and pro-government Telegram channels.