Craftivism and Yarn Bombing

A Criminological Exploration

Alyce McGovern

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781137579911
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores the use of handmade crafts as a vehicle for protest. Craftivism has experienced a resurgence in recent years, often in direct response to the social, environment and political concerns of those who engage in the practice. Acts of craftivism raise important questions for criminologists about the use of public space, power, and resistance. McGovern focuses on an example of the 'craftivist' movement that has been steadily gaining momentum since the early to mid-2000s: yarn bombing. As an urban craft movement that melds the skills of knitting or crochet with the act of graffiti, yarn bombing has the potential to contribute to criminological understandings of graffiti and street art, particularly on issues of gender, perceptions of and motivations for graffiti, and the commodification of crime. Drawing on interviews with yarn bombers and craftivists, Craftivism and Yarn Bombing explores how such acts can be understood and explored through a criminological lens, and will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including criminology, sociology, cultural studies, gender studies, and urban studies.

© The Author(s) 2019

A. McGovernCraftivism and Yarn BombingCritical Criminological Perspectiveshttps://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57991-1_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Alyce McGovern¹

(1)

School of Social Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Alyce McGovern

Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This introductory chapter sets the context for the book and its content. Beginning by detailing the foundations of the research project that culminated in the book, the chapter establishes craftivism and yarn bombing as important sites for criminological enquiry. The chapter also considers the potential benefits of participatory politics for the discipline, before outlining the structure and format of the book.

Keywords

Yarn bombingCriminologyParticipatory politicsCraftivism

End Abstract

A group of us stood back from the street sign, phones in hand, ready to snap the perfect photo to share on our social media accounts. As the knitted creation was being stitched into place, our instructor provided advice on the best way to secure a yarn bomb to a pole to ensure its longevity. While the installation was in progress, a few curious passers-by slowed down to find out what was holding our attention. Our instructor made large, looping motions as they used a needle threaded with wool to secure the creation into place along the length of the pole, atop of which sat a parking sign. It was a Saturday afternoon and, along with a dozen others, I was nearing the end of a workshop on yarn bombing, which culminated in a small piece of knitted wool being attached to a pole alongside a busy inner-city street. The whole process took less than five minutes, resulting in a multicoloured length of knitting—complete with tassels and other embellishments—being attached to the pole, inconspicuous to all but the most observant of pedestrians and drivers. Fast forward a couple of years and I just happened to be in the vicinity of the workshop’s original location. Glancing down the street to where the yarn bomb had been situated, I was surprised to see it still there, albeit hanging limp and faded, almost indistinguishable from the pole to which it was attached.

***

As someone who has cross-stitched, embroidered, and sewed as a hobby for many years, when I first became aware of the practice of yarn bombing, my interest was purely personal. ‘What a cool idea’, I thought, wishing I was a more adept knitter so I could perhaps try it out myself. My personal interest soon turned professional, however, as I reflected on what I had come to know about the practice and considered how and why criminologists might find it of interest. What first sparked my scholarly interests were questions over the legality of yarn bombing. How was it that people were doing this without there seeming to be any repercussions? Anecdotally, the practice appeared relatively uncontroversial, for the most part accepted, or at least tolerated, by the communities in which it appeared and certainly not subject to much, if any, official police intervention as far as I could determine. While other forms of street art and graffiti continue to raise the ire and praise of the public and officials in equal measure, on the face of it there seemed to be relatively little apprehension about, or backlash to, the practice of attaching knitted items to public objects.

I wondered, too, how law enforcement officials might react should they encounter someone putting up a piece of knitting in public space. The answer to this question only became murkier when local councils in more recent years embraced the practice, commissioning yarn bombing crews to install knitted and crocheted designs in prominent public settings (see for example Fig. 1.1; City of Melbourne 2013 and Horn 2014). While as a crafter I was excited by the way this new discovery might influence my own crafting practice, as a researcher, my criminological imagination had also been ignited.

Fig. 1.1

Christmas themed yarn bombing installation commissioned by Melbourne City Council 2018, Melbourne, Australia

(Photo: Alyce McGovern)

Beyond the legal status of the practice, there were other questions that soon bubbled up to the surface the more I investigated yarn bombing, like: What would motivate someone to knit things and put them up in public? And how did they actually carry this out in practice? I also wondered who these ‘knitting guerrillas’ were, and what did they have to say about their experiences of yarn bombing. I was further curious about the relationship beween yarn bombing and other forms of street art and graffiti. More fundamentally, I also wondered whether the answers to these questions may even reveal something that gets to the very heart of what many criminologists are centrally concerned with, namely what constitutes a ‘crime’ and who we label as ‘criminal’.

The more I researched the practice, the more I realised the relevance and utility of criminological (and other) perspectives in exploring this phenomenon. Questions of motivation, for example, on the surface seemed likely to intersect strongly with the work of cultural criminologists, who are interested in exploring ‘risky’, ‘thrill seeking’, and ‘carnivalesque’ behaviours, and the reasons why people choose to engage in ‘illicit’ activities (Lyng 1990, 2005; Ferrell 1993; Zwick 2005; Presdee 2000; Cresswell 1994). Similarly, I considered what critical theorists, who explore the ways in which actors in society engage in practices of resistance, may have to say about themes of gender, public space, power, and more as they relate to yarn bombing (De Certeau 1998; Cresswell 1992). Indeed, it quickly became evident that, despite appearances, the ‘whimsical’ act of yarn bombing had much to offer those of us interested in analysing social, political, environmental, and economic questions that characterise contemporary society, core themes in much of the work of critical and cultural criminologists.

Furthermore, as I have expanded my enquiry in this space to consider how yarn bombing is situated within the wider craftivist movement, which I explain in detail below, it is evident that there are opportunities for us to reflect not only on the sorts of subject areas we as criminologists engage with, but also the way we as scholars present and communicate our work, including what Close (2018: 867) terms ‘participatory politics’ and intersectional activism. This research has expanded my thinking with regards to not only what, but also how issues of crime, justice, gender, and race (to name a few) can be investigated and disseminated beyond the production of ‘academic’ texts. In an era where scholars are increasingly being asked to account for the ways our work engages with the community and makes an ‘impact’, looking outside the academic sphere to both gather and share our knowledge becomes increasingly relevant. Participatory politics—‘interactive, peer-based acts through which individuals and groups seek to exert both voice and influence on issues of public concern’ through activities such as investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation, production, and mobilisation (Kahne et al. 2015: 41)—can be another avenue through which we as scholars undertake, communicate and activate our work.

Similarly, such approaches urge us to pay greater attention to the historical context of intersectional activism and what has or should contribute to criminological enquiry. As Porter (2019: 132) argues, we must acknowledge ‘the contributions of First Nations scholars, artists and activists [which have been] overwhelmingly ignored in criminological research and curricula’. It was with these questions and considerations in mind that I embarked on a criminological exploration of craftivism and yarn bombing.

The Research Project and Its Aims

As noted above, this study is centrally concerned with the practice of yarn bombing. Also known as knitting graffiti, guerrilla knitting, yarn storming, knit bombing and even granny graffiti, yarn bombing—the practice of affixing knitted or crocheted yarn to public objects—is a form of street craft that has gained popularity over the last decade or so, often spotted in urban, inner city locations around the world. The woollen creations that characterise a yarn bomb vary in scope and design, from large, expansive installations that involve multiple contributors and patterns, through to more modest pieces, smaller in scale and often created and installed by the same individual. Unlike some other forms of street art, yarn bombing is relatively easily removed. While some pieces may stay in situ for years—as was the case in the workshop example detailed in the opening of this chapter—the relative ease with which installations can be removed, typically...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Unravelling the Threads: Contemporary Craftivism and Its Origins
• 3. The Itch to Stitch: Yarn Bombers and Their Motivations
• 4. Craft Attack: The Framing of Yarn Bombing
• 5. Crafty Crimes: The Criminology of Craftivism
• Back Matter