Here’s a bit of fun: Yarn bombing, a worldwide street art craze, has recently found a new home in the Top End. For the uninitiated, yarn bombing is, despite its aggressive title, the relatively benign – and seriously lovely – practice of placing knitted installations around town using wool, yarn and string. It’s also referred to as, ‘knit-fiti’, ‘guerilla knitting’, ‘knitting graffiti’ and ‘yarn-storming’. It’s graffiti all grown up.
OTL’s local Yarn bombing contact – who’s asked to be known only as ‘Peggy’ (yarn bombers use their grandmother’s name as their alias) – thinks of it as a gift to the community. “To have something beautiful to look at is a very important part of life,” she says, adding that in her practice, she steers clear of pre-existing public art, preferring the blank canvas of railings and poles.
Without permission from the council, there’s a strong chance these installations will be removed before too long, which is fine with Peggy. Most street artists embrace the impermanence inherent to the form. “I just hope that people look at it and think about it. Just stop and pause and look at their surroundings and think about what they’re seeing”.
Last month, the beautiful tree pictured was yarn bombed in Smith Street Mall. Unfortunately it only lasted a day before it was ripped down - allegedly by a council worker. Never fear - we hear our local guerilla purlers will be back on the streets beautifying Darwin soon.
