Not yet at least. I really like graffiti and street art and I think they are closely related to the contemporary 'anti-craft' movement (if it is a movement?). I think most people have heard of Knitta and similar groups. Although, they are mostly focused on knitting and crochet; there's not a lot of embroidered graffiti going on. Here is one example though, Ulrika Erde's work on public transportation. I just love that stuff!There is something really wonderful about the unexpectedness of embroidery on a bus seat. A very interesting aspect, I think, of embroidered graffiti is that graffiti is mainly associated with anonymous guys in hoodies defacing trains and any other surface. There is something aggressive about graffiti (sometimes), for some people it is mainly a way of giving the authorities the finger and less about an art form.
Crochet and embroidered graffiti are gentler forms, perhaps, but I think they can say just as much, although in a more subtle way. To me it is about changing the world ever so slightly, even if it's just by covering a hand rail or a tree trunk in a knitted cosy, saying "look over here, did you ever notice this tree before?" I like that. That someone takes the time to make you stop and think. For no other reason than just that.
I also really like the cross pollination between different disciplines. So, I would like to propose a wee challenge. Which actually has two parts and you can choose to do one or both of them. First, go for a walk and take pictures of the graffiti you see (if you live in the country and there's no graffiti around you can look on the internet or bust out the spray cans yourself!), pick one of them and make it into embroidery. Second, either do embroidery directly on a bus seat or somewhere else in a public space (but try not to get into trouble), or make an embroidered piece from home (geese in bonnets, anyone?!) and attach it somewhere in a public place (again, keep out of trouble.)
Right. This was a very long post, but I hope you'll play along. I'm definitely the slightly timid type, so I may only do the first option. Although, doing the second option would be a bit of a rush. Being ever so slightly illegal. ;-)
