A faculty member at the University of Arkansas Rome Center is working with an international coalition aimed at preserving and archiving the works of one of the world's most notorious and elusive street artists: Banksy.

Laura D'Angelo, a faculty of architecture at the University of Arkansas Rome Center, was recently appointed a member of a committee focused on advocating for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to include the graffiti scene in Bristol, England, on its Intangible Heritage list.

To support this effort, she is working with Stefano Antonelli, one of the foremost experts on Banksy and fellow member of the committee, to assemble a comprehensive archive of Banksy's works. The goal stretches beyond just UNESCO — they not only want to help authenticate Banksy's works, but also to help make his art more accessible and elevate public art as worthy of serious academic study.

"Banksy" is the pseudonym of a street artist from England who helped redefine graffiti from a criminal act to an art form through a mix of performance, political satire and visual commentary.

"Banksy made the world of graffiti approachable," D'Angelo said. "He harnessed it as a way to speak out. But he's also a performer. He made this myth around himself, and when you think about graffiti, you probably have this idea of people doing it randomly, but Banksy's work shows great deliberation and planning."

Still, much of his work remains undocumented, which has led to countless forgeries. While D'Angelo and Antonelli have worked with others to produce a database with artworks, documents and other materials from Banksy, they are now seeking to convert this database into an archive open for public use. They also plan to offer scholarships and research grants for other academics to conduct projects and research on Banksy's works.

"Banksy studies are deeply affected by a major production of noetic knowledge, provided mainly by the internet, and a very minor production of disciplinary knowledge, which is the basis for proper artists studies," D'Angelo said. "Our research group is now focused on production and promotion of disciplinary knowledge about the artist and its context, and to make this knowledge available to the public for further studies through a dedicated foundation."

Forming an archive of authenticated works will help in identifying forgeries, but creating such a resource hasn't been easy given the ephemeral nature of Banksy's art. D'Angelo, Antonelli and others are fusing their specialized knowledge — D'Angelo's historical acumen and Antonelli's philosophical expertise — to comprehensively examine Banksy's work.

"The fact that we all have different backgrounds makes this an interesting challenge," D'Angelo said. "I analyze these works through the lens of art history, but we also have to look at this through Stefano's lens, which is the philosophy of language. Because these works are a language in their own way."

The group leans heavily on everything from exhibition magazines to social media posts and YouTube videos to identify works, using tools to find archived social media posts to see works that he's deleted from social media.

A city with a rich history of public art, Rome is a fitting backdrop for the study of his work.

"One of the first things you see when you come to Rome is that there's lot of graffiti here," D'Angelo said. "Italy is the cradle of the graffiti. If you study Pompeii, there was a lot of graffiti even then."

D'Angelo hopes the committee's efforts will help turn the study of street art into a serious academic discipline — one that looks at Banksy's far-reaching influence on other artists and art forms.

"We want public art to be a discipline integrated into art history," she said. "We want to look at its roots and development and connections just like we study Renaissance art. What Stefon discovered is that when Banksy's work forms patterns that influence other artists."

"Laura's work represents the very best of what our faculty can achieve through international academic collaboration," said Lindsey Aloia, associate dean of international education. "Her efforts to preserve Banksy's contributions not only elevate the academic study of street art, they also reinforce the role that public art plays in shaping global conversations. I am incredibly proud of Laura's contribution to this groundbreaking initiative."

For more information on the committee, visit the Banksy Studies website.