KATIE HOLMES
I noticed this post by the delightful Zoe Strauss, who just had her big I-95 photography show last weekend, and got instant deja vu. She put up this picture:
I subscribe to a few Philly-related flickr streams, mostly to give myself a little visual break when digging through the vast mound of digital stuff excreted into my google reader by Philadelphians every day. I had a hunch I had seen KATIE HOLMES pop up at least once before there, and indeed:
Katie Holmes Sucks Under I-95, by Vincent J. Brown
And another (but without the appended ‘SUX’)!
KATIE HOLMES at Grey's Ferry and Annin, taken by serlingrod
They look like they’re the same handwriting, especially in the K and the M… who in god’s name would choose KATIE HOLMES as their tag?
Anybody seen any other examples of KATIE HOLMES around town?
Two Words I Never Expected To Put Together: Guerilla Knitters
Quirky news via Jezebel this afternoon. Australian Denise Litchfield is street artist. Only she isn’t using spray paint, she’s using—wait for it—yarn. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Litchfield is part of a growing global movement of guerilla knitters, who stitch their work onto public property. Her goal is to knit cozies for fire hydrants.
“It redefines street art and is also a reference to graffiti,” she said. “It’s absurd and feminine and fun.” Maybe so, but I bet it’s also really, really gross after it rains.
Let’s take a moment to discuss the term “guerilla knitters.” The word “guerilla” is defined by my dictionary widget as “a member of a small, independent group taking part in irregular fighting.” Who are the guerilla knitters fighting against? The Sydney Morning Herald interviewed Emily Howes, an expert from University of Technology, Sydney, and author of a Ph .D. thesis on “indie craft.” She claims that guerilla knitters “see craft as a subversive and politically motivated act—a way of jolting people out of their comfortable reverie.”
Because, really, a fire hydrant wearing a sweater is what’s going to wake me up and make me start caring about global economics and poverty and homelessness.
PW and Guardian readers will recall former Philly Weekly A&E editor Steven Wells’ hatred for knitting and the shit-tons of criticism he received from Philly knitters. They’ve proven to be a strong (and outspoken) community.
So what we wanna know: Are there guerilla knitters in Philadelphia? And if so, are they plotting against Steven Wells as we speak?