For an attentive reading of the city and to help understand the public policy of memory, we need to pay closer attention to the processes of sense-making inscribed in uncommon forms. Public art has long been recognised for its potential to transform urban spaces. While the most traditional way of conserving memory centres on formal street art, graffiti may be seen as subversive. Graffiti is considered vandalism; its role in urban memory is overlooked. The author argues that such a notion is not directly related to protecting public and private property in Cairo, but rather conflicts with the elites’ and authorities’ need to control the urban narrative, the diversity of cultural values, and political positions. The article explores the role of graffiti in Cairo by selecting numerous graffiti pieces across the city. The graffiti pieces were selected to address cultural diversity, aesthetics, and political aspects. They were selected to represent what came to be known as guerrilla memory. Graffiti pieces were classified by their objectives and analysed semiotically. Besides the political graffiti, Cairo exhibits commercial, aesthetic and religious graffiti. The different types of graffiti in Cairo tell a story about the community’s hopes, frustrations, and cultural values. This turns the city walls into memory carriers. Graffiti in Cairo plays a significant role in expressing the silenced community’s thoughts by providing a visible and tangible representation. Graffiti’s visibility and its imposition of diverse, unauthorised urban narratives explain why it is highly contested in Cairo, as it draws marginalised citizens’ voices into urban places.

This study examines curriculum reform in the "Comprehensive Jewelry Material Techniques" course, a core component of the jewelry design program at West Yunnan University of Applied Sciences, drawing on curriculum theories and Torrance's principles of creative thinking, it addresses persistent challenges in applied undergraduate art education: outdated content, pedagogical monotony, limited material diversity, superficial applications, and constrained instructional time. These impede students' innovatnment with industry demands in a digital-era art and design landscape. This study adopts a progressive, student-centered pedagogy integrating material cognition, deep practice, themed jewelry creation, multi-dimensional evaluation, and achievement exhibitions. This fosters interdisciplinary knowledge synthesis, psychological safety, and holistic competencies—enhancing material mastery, aesthetic literacy, and practical innovation. Empirical outcomes demonstrate elevated teaching efficacy, as evidenced by student works exhibiting novel material fusions, creative potential. The reforms model a transformative paradigm for vocational art curricula, bridging experiential transmission with autonomous exploration to cultivate adaptable, creatively resilient designers responsive to societal and technological shifts.

This Practice-based research explores the innovative application of textiles in the creation of decorative flower vases, positioning them at the intersection of functional design and contemporary art. The study investigates the potential of techniques such as weaving, embroidery, and applique to transcend the conventional boundaries of the medium. Through a methodological framework combining material experimentation interviews with textile artisans and pottery producers in Accra, and critical reflection, the research examines the interplay of materiality, form and aesthetics. It integrates traditional Ghanaian motifs with modern design principles to create culturally resonant, sustainable artworks. The findings demonstrate textiles' significant versatility and creative capacity for producing unique decorative objects. This study contributes to discourses on material innovation and sustainable design by highlighting textiles as a dynamic medium for artistic expression. It offers practical insights for artisans and designers, underscoring the role of textiles in evolving traditional crafts for contemporary contexts.

This study addresses the critical challenge of material scarcity within Ghana’s creative industries by pioneering the synthesis of professional-grade stage blood from indigenous, locally-sourced materials. In the context of Ghanaian theatre and film, practitioners face significant barriers due to the high cost and limited availability of imported special effects products, often resulting in the use of inadequate substitutes that compromise aesthetic realism, safety, and narrative authenticity. This paper responds by exploring the potential of cassava starch, tapioca, kenkey dough, and fufu wax. Grounded in Schumacher’s theory of Appropriate Technology, the paper reframes indigenous resources not as inferior alternatives but as technologically and contextually appropriate solutions that align with Ghana’s economic, environmental, and social realities. The study provides detailed, reproducible recipes for both flowing and clotted blood variants, validated through practical application in simulated special effects such as gunshot wounds and deep-tissue scars. These formulations meet key performance criteria: visual fidelity under theatrical and cinematic conditions, controlled viscosity, ease of application and removal, and performer safety. Beyond technical innovation, this research contributes to shifting academic and professional discourse from dependency and scarcity toward resourcefulness, sustainability, and artistic self-reliance. It offers a practical framework for reducing production costs, enhancing the quality of visual storytelling, and fostering local value chains within Ghana’s growing creative economy.