Dialektika Realitas dan Imajinasi: Ilustrasi Kota sebagai Medium Antara Dokumentasi Faktual dan Fiksi

Abstract

This article explores the position of urban illustration in Denpasar, Bali, as a dynamic narrative medium operating at the threshold between factual documentation and visual fiction. In contrast to conventional perspectives that reduce the city to a merely physical entity, the lens of illustration transforms the city into a visual text imbued with subjectivity and emotion. Employing an interdisciplinary critical approach that combines Visual Communication Design and Cultural Studies, this study examines the role of the fact–fiction dialectic in reconstructing public perceptions of urban space. The research data comprise a visual corpus of murals and urban illustrations documented in 2026 across three areas of Denpasar: Jalan Gunung Kawi, the heritage district of Jalan Gajah Mada–Pasar Badung, and Jalan Nusa Indah. The corpus was analyzed through three primary analytical units represented in Figures 1, 2, and 3. The analysis involved identifying visual structures, mapping the relationships between factual and imaginative elements, contextualizing the works within their sociocultural contexts, and critically interpreting the relationships among representation, power, memory, and transformations of urban space. The findings reveal three major tendencies. First, urban illustration operates through the juxtaposition of the city’s material conditions and imaginative narratives, thereby producing a representational space between the real and the imagined. Second, several murals employ Balinese iconography, historical memory, local language, and symbols of everyday life as visual strategies for preserving cultural identity and a sense of place amid transformations of urban space. Third, several works reveal tensions between the cultural narratives represented on the walls and the surrounding conditions of streets, vehicles, economic activities, and modern infrastructure. These findings demonstrate that urban illustration does not merely reproduce the physical form of Denpasar but constructs a critical reading of spatial transformation through processes of selection, distortion, juxtaposition, and visual symbolization. Accordingly, urban illustration can be understood as a cultural text that simultaneously functions as visual documentation, an articulation of memory, and a site for negotiating meanings concerning the city’s identity and future.