The concept of ubiquity invites us to consider the widespread presence of artistic interventions and urban phenomena—marking landscapes, evoking memories, and challenging spatial boundaries. This issue of the Black Book Drawing and Sketching Journal (BBDS) explores how art, design, and critical inquiry unfold across diverse settings, from post-war cities and contested urban spaces to the quiet persistence of structures like bicycle parks.

This issue of the Black Book Drawing and Sketching journal invites readers to explore the multifaceted intersections of drawing, storytelling, and the built environment, unearthing how lines and marks on a page—or on a wall—carry cultural, historical, and emotional resonance across diverse contexts. Each contribution offers a fresh perspective on the power of drawing and visual expression as both personal practice and collective act.

The Indian subcontinent has a unique street art context rooted in traditions of everyday decorative arts, which in recent years converged with global street art and graffiti that emerged from the West. 

Thanks to information and communication tools of globalization, and the flows of people and ideas — the East and the West now encounter each other in terms of ideas and aesthetics in virtual as well as real space. 

 However the contexts of street art or of art in the streets and in the public in the East is different. In the Indian subcontinent, art is often an under-appreciated and laborious economic livelihood for many. In recent years it is also hand-crafted resistance to digitization and a decolonized response to what is considered art in other places—a distinction that was rooted in a colonial exploitation. 

Art in the streets is often theatrical and image-laden. The following interviews and reflections barely scratch the surface of the rich heritage and diverse traditions behind types of performance, interventions wall art and public art forms that exist in the Indian subcontinent. It also enables a voice of critique and a way of creating a dialogue with the public.

Welcome to the pages of Volume 4, Number 1 of the BBDS Black Book Drawing and Sketching scientific journal, where the vivid strokes of artistic expression seamlessly intertwine with the meticulous lines of scholarly exploration. This edition unfolds like a canvas, displaying an eclectic array of articles that traverse the intricate landscapes of urban spaces, landscape design, historical restoration, water elements, roof gardens, and the symbiotic relationship between sculpture and photography.

As you immerse yourself in the pages of this volume, we invite you to appreciate the richness of these scholarly contributions. The BBDS Black Book Drawing and Sketching journal remains a vibrant canvas where the strokes of academia blend seamlessly with the creativity of the artistic realm, fostering a deeper understanding of the intricate tapestry that is the art and science of drawing and sketching.

Political intentions – drawing and it’s social and political dimensions

This is a call for papers that explore the social and political content in drawing. This can focus on the field of graphic art including posters, graffiti, murals and comics. It can also be about social and political content in fine art and independent practice. The aim of the issue it to see, through written and pictorial submissions, how drawing is and has been used as a way of documenting, promoting, and exploring social and political issues and themes. We accept image-based submissions with supporting text.

Political intentions – drawing and it’s social and political dimensions

This is a call for papers that explore the social and political content in drawing. This can focus on the field of graphic art including posters, graffiti, murals and comics. It can also be about social and political content in fine art and independent practice. The aim of the issue it to see, through written and pictorial submissions, how drawing is and has been used as a way of documenting, promoting, and exploring social and political issues and themes. We accept image-based submissions with supporting text.

Outside - Inside can be freely interpreted, allowing all declinations the authors would desire. Inside as in the physical space, inside at home, but also inside as inside yourself, personal feelings locked inside ourselves, intimate impulses. Outside spatially as the public space, and outside as the relations we have with others, our contact points with the exterior world mediated by our senses. The Black Book Drawing and Sketching journal give both written and visual space for exploratory research on cross domains that contact the mentioned topics.

BBDS journal is focused on applied research, and we welcome exclusively image based submissions with secondary supportive texts. The images can be of work planning, doodling, photos, collages, diagrams, visual ideas or other.

Outside - Inside can be freely interpreted, allowing all declinations the authors would desire. Inside as in the physical space, inside at home, but also inside as inside yourself, personal feelings locked inside ourselves, intimate impulses. Outside spatially as the public space, and outside as the relations we have with others, our contact points with the exterior world mediated by our senses. The Black Book Drawing and Sketching journal give both written and visual space for exploratory research on cross domains that contact the mentioned topics.

BBDS journal is focused on applied research, and we welcome exclusively image based submissions with secondary supportive texts. The images can be of work planning, doodling, photos, collages, diagrams, visual ideas or other.

Online Journal, BBDS is devoted to applied research, we welcome exclusively image based submissions with secondary supportive texts. The images can be of work planning, doodling, photos, collages, diagrams, visual ideas or other.

I have great pleasure in introducing to this journal these four exemplary practitioners, whose practical and academic work is celebrated in fine art and drawing circles and whom (apart from Lucy Lyons with whom I hope to work with soon) I have had the good fortune to work alongside. Kelly Chorpening, Birgitta Hosea, Lucy Lyons and Carali McCall.