This is the 2nd part in a 3-part blog post, about what I’m calling The 3 -Tions* of Craftivism. (You can read about them here.) You can see the first part, on Craftivism and Donation here. The 2nd -tion of craftivism is beautification.
This is found in acts like yarnbombing. (And in scratching my head about this, I could only really think about yarnbombing, so you tell me, what am I missing?)
It’s taking your everyday surroundings in your own city and making them beautiful instead of barren.
However, I also think it comes with some responsibility to:
1. Not destroy property.
2. Check up on your work; make sure it is still in good shape from time to time.
3. Fix your work if it comes undone or someone messes with it.
4. Take down your work if it becomes too damaged to repair or it is looking unsightly!
Above, all, just remember the aim here is to beautify and make people look differently at old surroundings. A few examples:
(Photo by Flickr user casaciendias)
(Photo by Flickr user jam_project)
(Photo by Flickr user 81740669@N04)
(Photo by Flickr user spinsandneedles)
(Photo by Flickr user cynthiaparkhill)
(Photo by Flickr user kebabette)
(Photo by Flickr user vandalog)
There are hundreds more photos of yarnbombing to peruse over at Flickr here.
And while I was looking for photos, I came across this one:
(Photo by Flickr user staycurly)
And it has me wonder if this was true. (What are your thoughts?) I think in some cases this can be true, as yarnbombing can be fluffy and full of good-natured hijinks like chick flick movies. But, should it be more? Should there be more that is strictly political to give yarnbombing more weight? Or is it lightness just enough to get people interested in their surroundings again, which is political enough?
*ETA: Spring 2015, I switched the “-tions” to “tenets.”
I have never seen yarn bombings anywhere but then I wasn’t looking. It is so cool I will be watching for it now… and maybe contributing a bombing or two myself ;)
I must admit to being interested/amused when yarnbombing first arrived, but I can’t help thinking now that it doesn’t seem to have any real purpose apart from endlessly repeating itself, once you’ve seen one wrapped tree/bus stop/public sculpture, you’ve really seen them all. There is very little that is thought-provoking, it rarely even needs to be discussed, apart from the usual.
It is also disappointing that much of it seems to consist of basic knit (knit/purl), although I am aware that complex installation pieces are not really what it is about, still, it would be nice to see a little more effort put into practical details as well as perhaps some of the symbolic ones.
I am aware that much of yarnbombing is driven by little more than instagram moments, but surely it has to develop beyond that, otherwise it’s just little more than pinterest photos of kittens with balls of yarn.
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your thoughts, John!
I find myself having mixed reactions to yarn bombing at times. I love it, because I think that it, at heart, is really about beautifying (and taking ownership of) your surroundings. However, sometimes I think it can have more meaning. And when *that* feeling hits, I have to take a step back and think about what meaning it could give to someone who has never seen a yarn bomb before.
I hope they inspire people to take back their cities and to see them in a new light. And if seeing them means internally questioning them each time, I’m kind of thankful that each one I may be jaded about gives me the opportunity to (re)view it in another light.