A very British yarn boosts graffiti art

Britain’s vibrant canvas has been enriched by a unique genre that appeared on a large number of iconic Royal Mail postboxes during lockdowns, when people hunkered down and made creative use of their time.

Belinda Goldsmith, a former Reuters journalist based in London, was among millions of Britons whose lives were upended by Covid-19 lockdowns, trying best to adapt to the new normal as the rhythms of everyday life fell silent, and towns and the countryside wore a deserted look for weeks on end. Many discovered new passions while others re-discovered activities they had long given up, showcasing their work mostly online or in private. But one of the most amusing works to emerge from leisurely lockdown activities was in public: brightly coloured knitted or crocheted covers with images of Queen Elizabeth, nurses, animals, rainbows or flowers installed on top of iconic red Royal Mail postboxes across the country, pleasantly surprising Goldsmith and others. Some appeared overnight, created by anonymous knitters, while others were claimed by individuals and community groups — adding another quirky layer to graffiti art in Britain’s public spaces.

Goldsmith, global media director at Save the Children charity, says: “I first spotted a vivid green cover festooned with flowers on top of a letterbox during one of my morning runs as, like millions of others, I was no longer commuting to work and was battling the bulge sitting at my kitchen desk. I laughed out aloud at this extraordinary work of art as it was such a funny — yet rather lovely — sight. As a journalist for decades, this piqued my interest. From the young to the old, from students to retirees, to those shielding to frontline workers, the range of people making these covers was extraordinary and provided a unique view on how the entire country was adapting to the loss of freedom in the face of a global pandemic. There was also the added edge that some were made anonymously — and no one knew if they were actually allowed to put graffiti art on postboxes. The covers were cute and funny, but also very British, very lovely, and very quirky. They became a symbol of lockdown as we all had to find new ways to Keep Calm and Carry On.”

She put together a team to chronicle the efforts, but they stopped counting when the covers — better known in the art world as ‘yarn bombing’ — were found on postboxes in more than 100 locations across Britain. The number of postboxes so decked up was nearly 1,000; many were photographed and spread across social media by amused passers-by. After gathering images and speaking to those willing to identify with the covers, the result was a delightful picture-book published recently, Lockdown Letterboxes, the proceeds of whose sales go to a charity organisation dealing with mental health among the young. “To me, it made sense to record this moment, this snapshot in time, when, faced with a global pandemic of terrifying proportions, some Brits took up their knitting needles and crochet hooks to keep busy, brighten up neigbourhoods and raise money for charity,” Goldsmith adds.

Most graffiti in public spaces is illegal, but Royal Mail confirmed that as long as the covers did not cause any offence or obstruct people from posting items or postmen from collecting mail from the postboxes, it is fine. A spokesperson said: “We first began to see these toppers over the festive season, although this soon spread to other key times of the year such as Easter. More recently, we have noticed decorations celebrating various frontline workers during the pandemic, including postal workers. We appreciate the residents’ passion for creating these works of art, and value their interest in Royal Mail.” In some places, the covers were vandalised or stolen, prompting the police to intervene. In Hillingdon, a local group created 17 covers for all postboxes in the village of Ickenham in time for Easter, but found the next morning that eight were stolen, sparking an investigation using CCTV cameras, and ultimately recovering them from a nearby house.

Mindful yarn bombing

John Cole-Morgan, chairman of the Tring Yarn Bomb group in Hertfordshire who closed his local shop during the first lockdown in March 2020, organises women who create the covers. He says: “During lockdown, I have seen a lot more people interested in knitting, and maybe postbox toppers came partly from that and from having more time on people’s hands. But I think there is also a lot of mindfulness involved in making something so tangible and so detached from what is going on in your daily life. People can get a lot of joy from something beautiful that has taken work and care. That can be very rewarding in a time like this.” One of the most prolific creators is former policewoman Rachel Williamson from Rhyl in Wales, who made over 70 covers between March 2020 and June 2021. Pharmacy assistant Rebecca Chandramohan told Goldsmith’s team: “I did a bit of knitting when I was younger. My Nan taught me and my cousin. But I got back into it during lockdown as it really helped me to relax. I work for the NHS and I really have a full-on job. It’s so nice to be able to come home and knit and relax. I made two Corgis on a topper for the Queen’s birthday that I was really proud of.”

Yarn bombing came as a pleasant surprise for many in Britain, but the trend began in Houston, Texas, when boutique owner Magda Sayeg covered doorhandles with hand-made pink and purple knitted covers in 2005. Soon seen as a form of art, several museums in the United States and Europe held yarn bombing exhibitions, while someone in Canada declared June 11 as International Yarn Bombing Day. The trend reached Britain about a decade later, when the first such cover was created and placed on postboxes by The Craft Club in Southend-on-Sea in 2014, and spread rapidly during the lockdowns; several yarn groups now have members in the tens of thousands. In the discourse of graffiti art, some experts identify yarn bombing with feminism to reclaim the traditional arts of knitting and crocheting in the wider graffiti scene that is dominated by men, while for others, it helps to contradict the idea of women as homemakers when the art is brought into public space.

Elsewhere, as the novelty of covers on postboxes was spreading cheer and making news, there was hardly any pause in creating complex, colourful graffiti art that is more widely visible across London and other places, particularly in Leake Street below the busy Waterloo station in central London. One of the rare public places were graffiti is allowed, the street is also known as the Banksy Tunnel, so named after the iconic street artist Banksy from Bristol, who hosted a secret event there, called the ‘Cans Festival’, in 2008, and invited artists from across the globe to come and create graffiti art.

From the time when such images in public spaces were considered vandalism, Leake Street has become synonymous with graffiti art and a centre of attraction for artists and others from across the globe. Other London areas where graffiti art and walking tours to showcase them reflect a vibrant sub-culture include South Bank, Shoreditch, Brick Lane, Tottenham, Hackney and Camden. One of the songs in Bollywood movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) featuring Katrina Kaif and Shah Rukh Khan was partly shot in Leake Street, while the street has been the backdrop in several music videos.

Prakash Bal Joshi, senior Mumbai-based artist who has held exhibitions in London and Europe, says: “Graffiti art is not part of the normal urban landscape, but it immediately attracts attention. Street art began on the fringe of art-world; it attracted ridicule and opposition, but has now found its way across the globe, though in many cities it is still illegal. I have travelled all over the world and came across such street art in almost every major city. On my first visit to Munich in the early 1980s, I was surprised to see it and became curious about graffiti art. Over the years, I watched it almost everywhere from Chicago to Shanghai, on roads approaching art hubs in the cities as well as away from mainstream art locations. Initially, it was considered as vandalism, protest, frustration of individual artist. One can now find it being reflected directly or indirectly in the art practices of renowned artists. The works of Keith Haring, Banksy and Steve Powers have forced the art world to take street art seriously. To me, from the perspective of an artist, it is valuable and has left its mark on mainstream art practices, including in Mumbai, where it thrives not only in upmarket areas like Bandra but also in the shanties of Dharavi.”

Rules of engagement

There are several written and unwritten rules on creating graffiti in Leake Street. A board cautions the artists (most of them young, male): ‘No Sexism. No Racism. No Adverts; Please take away empty cans and litter home; You don’t have to be a gangster to paint here, so please don’t behave like one’. The big names among graffiti artists are usually known by their assumed names, such as Pad or Marc, who prefer to conceal their identities. Some work in mainstream professions but head to Leake Street and other spaces in their spare time with aerosol cans, paints and brushes to express themselves. The street was as buzzing as ever when I visited last Friday, with artists busy creating new forms with bold messages, preferring to continue working than speak to journalists, aware that artwork does not remain on the walls for long, as others take over the space and create new ones with different imagery and messages. There is impermanence built into dynamic graffiti art, which democratises expression and provides a platform to convey a state of mind, feeling, or a political message — even if briefly.

Shobha Das, who spoke to several artists during her research into Leake Street and graffiti art, says: “My interest in graffiti started when I moved to a flat in central London which happened to be near Leake Street, one of the city’s ‘authorised’ graffiti spaces. Despite this status, Leake Street always had an air of ‘unauthorised’ about it, with its spiky-looking artists spraying at all hours of day and night, with anti-establishment takes on everything from international politics to the environment. The motivations of graffiti artists are as diverse as the artworks themselves. Some artists would never paint in Leake Street as the point of graffiti is to be subversive and unauthorised — so graffiti in an authorised space was cheating. Others paint for deeply personal reasons — like one chap who started doing graffiti to recover from the shock of his infant daughter’s cancer diagnosis. I learnt later that other artists wouldn’t paint over his work out of respect for that backstory. Others paint to be ‘spotted’, hoping that some big-shot art gallery owner will wander through and be wowed by their work (a few have had that luck). Yet others want to find an exciting counterpoint for their unsatisfying day jobs — like the paralegals and engineers who spray on weekends. Some bring their spray cans to Leake Street on decrepit bikes without brakes, others drive up in BMWs.”

Several laws are in place to prevent vandalism and graffiti on private property and public spaces because it can make neighbourhoods appear rundown, and removing it is expensive for cash-strapped councils. Back alleys, open spaces, underground tunnels, footbridges, council property and public walls and fences are all considered by officials to be vulnerable to graffiti. In England and Wales, graffiti is considered an act of criminal damage under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 and offenders can be punished

with an unlimited fine and imprisonment. In Scotland, graffiti is treated as an act of vandalism. Since 2004, it is an offence for shopkeepers to sell spray-paints to those below 16. An alternative sanction for minor graffiti offences is the issue of a penalty notice, when a magistrate can levy a large fine, or the council or the police can issue a £80 fixed penalty fine. But few are deterred as the pandemic and global events provide a rich menu to rail against through graffiti art.

(Prasun is a journalist based in London. He tweets @PrasunSonwalkar)