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Graffiti and street art research (GSAR) has become more acknowledged within the academic discourse; however, it has much to gain from theorising its methodological aspects. As a multidisciplinary field, GSAR has mostly used qualitative research methods, exploring urban space through methods that range from visual recordings to ethnography, emphasising the researchers’ reflexivity. This qualitative approach has, however, paid little attention to the role of embodied practices. In this paper we discuss how embodied methodologies provide multisensory research results where the experienced moments, the participant’s and researcher’s senses, cognition and mobility in urban spaces are connected. Our discussion draws on the authors’ fieldwork experiences of walking and edge working, and on the literature concerning embodiment and embodied methodology related to the context of GSAR.

Drawing upon visual ethnographic research carried out in two Spanish cities between 2015 and 2018, this visual essay explores the ability of street art to speak about violence against women. Posters, wall writings and stencils represent both visual communication and political expression that can give an insight into this gender-based phenomenon. Street art pieces are linked to broader social contexts. The photographs and discourse analysis of the street art presented in this essay pay attention to the specific contexts of Spanish society and investigate the social spaces in which street art pieces are embedded. The author offers a critical perspective on assumptions regarding the gendered construction of public space and reflections on street-level visual resistance about violence against women in Madrid and Valencia.