In March 2012, the British Council collaborated with the world-renowned Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), to host the first international exhibition in Libya after the revolution in 2011.
Throughout the 2011 street art flourished in Libya; graphic murals and colourful emotive paintings had popped up all over the towns and cities which had struggled for their independence.
This level of public artistic expression had been unprecedented under the old regime, not least because it was prohibited – and the prints and images in these exhibitions captured the freshness of such previously unseen work.
The V&A has been collecting street art prints since 2004, so the vibrant exhibitions which ran in Tripoli and Benghazi in April 2012 have been brought together under one roof.
Martin Roth, Director of the V&A said:
Street Art is a thriving contemporary form of creative expression in Libya and the V&A was delighted to have been invited to produce this by the Ministry of Culture and civil society. We hope it will lead to further and deeper collaborations.