“From Rebellion to Resonance: The Transcultural Mural Practice of Justin McMahon (JustOne)”
Swiss street artist Justin McMahon, known in the art world by his moniker JustOne, embodies the paradoxes at the heart of Dubai’s artistic milieu. His oeuvre oscillates between the insurgent ethos of graffiti and a more reflective interrogation of social narratives. McMahon’s distinct visual idiom—initially marked by defiant public tagging—finds symbolic culmination in a mural caricaturing Dubai’s residents with a tongue defiantly extended and inscribed with his name. In less than a year, this seemingly irreverent intervention has established McMahon as a disruptive yet indispensable figure within the cultural cartography of the United Arab Emirates.
Formally educated at Geneva’s Fine Arts School with supplementary experience in filmmaking, McMahon’s artistic trajectory originates within the fertile subcultures of European graffiti in the 1990s. What began as nocturnal tagging—a visceral outlet for adolescent anger—gradually evolved into increasingly technical murals situated in clandestine, semi-abandoned industrial landscapes. His multifaceted practice now spans photography, graphic design, and short film production, testifying to an elasticity of medium necessitated by street art’s hybrid demands. This eclecticism situates McMahon within a genealogy of artists whose adaptability is not only stylistic but also tactical.
McMahon’s visual language demonstrates absorption of diverse aesthetic currents, ranging from the hyper-real incantations of Trompe-l’oeil to the exuberant hand-painted billboards of Indian cinema. His murals serve as dialectical inquiries into the dual political role of public art: as vehicles of emancipatory expression and, conversely, as instruments of authoritarian control. He resists reductive binaries by recognizing that even propagandistic murals, though ideologically instrumentalized, may persist as works of artistic value. Within this horizon, McMahon situates his practice not merely as ornamentation of the urban façade but as a critical dialogue with power, consumption, and spectatorship.
A hallmark of McMahon’s career is his negotiation of the boundary between illegality and institutional integration. In Geneva, he persuaded municipal authorities and property owners that sanctioned murals could function both as deterrents against indiscriminate tagging and as economically preferable alternatives to recurrent graffiti removal. This instrumental positioning of art—simultaneously protective, beautifying, and cost-saving—enabled him to secure legitimacy within civic frameworks. Dubai, too, has witnessed his interventions in areas such as Tecom, Marina View Towers, and the Dubai Street Art Gallery, where sanctioned works reconstitute contested urban environments.
McMahon conceives of mural painting as a pedagogical medium, particularly effective in mobilizing younger publics. His workshops, ranging from corporate team-building sessions for Procter & Gamble to collaborations with NGOs such as Innocence in Danger, underscore his conviction in art’s transformative potential. By re-inscribing consumer-saturated public spaces with counter-narratives, he positions murals as critical rejoinders to corporate advertising and its associated imaginaries of unhealthy aspiration. The act of painting walls is thus reframed as an act of reclamation, restoring to the collective body its right to spaces otherwise commandeered by commerce.
McMahon’s international travels have deepened his appreciation for the plural valences of muralism. Of particular significance is Dakar, Senegal, where graffiti transcends egotistical inscription and instead embodies communal care, addressing urgent social questions such as healthcare, education, and civic pride. In contrasting this ethos with the self-aggrandizing tendencies of Western tagging culture, McMahon illuminates the fissures between collective and individualist modalities of street art. His encounters—even with sympathetic police who have praised his work—testify to the uncanny capacity of murals to bridge entrenched divides. Like his enigmatic precursor Banksy, McMahon navigates the unstable interplay of rebellion and institutionalization, producing works whose resonance lies precisely in their capacity to provoke, integrate, and endure.
WORDS TO BE NOTED-
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Oeuvre – The complete works of an artist or creative individual, considered as a whole.
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Eclecticism – A practice or style that draws from a diverse range of sources, traditions, or influences.
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Dialectical – Relating to the exploration of contradictions and their resolution; critical exchanges of opposing ideas.
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Institutionalization – The process by which an activity, initially informal or rebellious, becomes formally integrated into established systems.
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Pedagogical – Concerning teaching methods or the practice of education.
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Subversive – Intended to challenge, undermine, or overthrow established systems or norms.
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Transcultural – Extending across multiple cultures, drawing connections and meanings between them.
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Spectatorship – The condition or act of being an audience, particularly in relation to art or media.
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Commodification – The transformation of something into a marketable product, often critiqued in art when applied to public space.
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Resonance – The capacity of an idea, artwork, or experience to evoke strong or lasting significance.
🔹 Summary Paragraph
Justin McMahon, known as JustOne, has emerged as a paradoxical figure within Dubai’s art scene, merging graffiti’s rebellious ethos with socially conscious commentary. A graduate of Geneva’s Fine Arts School, his trajectory evolved from youthful tagging to sophisticated murals that negotiate with civic authorities for legitimacy. McMahon’s style—shaped by eclectic influences such as Trompe-l’œil illusionism and Bollywood billboard painting—interrogates the political ambivalence of public art as both emancipatory and propagandistic. His murals critique the commodification of urban space, asserting counter-narratives against consumerist intrusion while engaging communities through workshops and education. Transcultural in scope, his practice spans Dakar, Tripura, and Dubai, embodying muralism not merely as aesthetic enhancement but as a dialogic, civic force. Ultimately, McMahon exemplifies how street art can transition from subversive rebellion to socially resonant and institutionally integrated practice.
SOURCE- ENTERTAINMENT PUBLISHING
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