Knitta Please, Racism & the Backlash

Ernesto,

Thank you for your very important, in-depth and nuanced expansion on the co-opting of graf culture by Knitta and all that it entails. I was really hoping you might expound on this point for those of us (me!) who really are not familiar with the subculture. I’m still digesting much of what you have written but your post finally answers for me the underlying question, ‘What does knitting have to do with black ‘ghetto’ / street culture?’ and it appears to me that, in fact ‘Knitta, Please’ imagines itself as a corrective of sprayed graffitti culture. It’s a point that now seems rather obvious but one I had initially missed in, for instance, the Apartment Therapy article that said, ” Knitta Please! is devoted to creating and capturing images of knitted tagging… as apposed to spray-painted tagging. ” [sic].

As opposed to, yes.

It brings us back to that familiar, tiresome meme of black people (and other people of color, but mostly black people in the history of the US) as being originators of earthy, primitive or gritty ‘real’ culture and white elites as being the refiners of that culture. You know the refrain: Chuck Berry invented rock and roll but Elvis Presley took it to ‘the next level’; the Beatles took it to ‘the next level’; Eminem took it to…I’ll stop.

So with that opposition in mind, what does the name ‘Knitta, Please’ mean, or at least, suggest? It now seriously suggests to me a derisive putting-in-place of traditional graf writers and graf culture using racist language as in ‘You deface buildings with your graffiti. Knitta, please / N-gga, please. We knit and beautify the environment.’ Yes, they take it to the next level, retaining all of the language about crews and rivalries but without any of the bloodshed or defacement! For instance, how do you protect your turf in a Knitta-on-Knitta rivalry? With a simple MySpace post (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendId=34941089):

Dearest Friends o’ Knitta – Many, many of you have professed the desire to start bombing your respective hoods with your own knitted tags, inspired by Knitta! We love it. We love and appreciate all of the enthusiasm and support pouring in from all over the globe. This is really exciting and keeps us smilin’! Well, my fellow knitta’s and I have sat and discussed the possibility of Knitta factions in other cities, while still being able to maintain a distinct point of origin here in H-Town and specific Knitta-isms that we hold dear. Here’s what we’ve decided: There’s no monopoly on knitting or graffiti. Anyone, anywhere, can do these things. We’ve only elevated a new trend of combining those two activities and given ourselves street names. This is definitely open to the public. We’d love to see other people tagging with knitted items! We think that’d be great! Here’s the sticky part though… We’d like for you to tag under your own unique crew name and individual tags. We’d rather reserve the name “Knitta” and the phrase “Knitta, Please” for ourselves. That’s our crew and our motto. Just like graffiti crews everywhere, they all paint, but they all have different names. I think it would be amazing to see different “crews” popping up all over the world, installing little knitted hugs across their cities. Now, when you get “discovered” and start getting press, it’d be great if you threw a wink and a nod in our direction for the inspiration. I think that’s fair. We’ll nod right back, in the form of posting tag photos and letters you send to us on our website (as soon as we actually go live!). We can even have a list of crew names and locations, complete with photos, on a page – just like graffiti sites. I hope you understand about the name issue. We think that’s the best way possible for this to take off globally (as it should!) and maintain our roots. Cool? Cool. Now get to knittin’! L, AKrylik (Knitta Crew)

“Just like graffitti sites”! But “elevated! To the next level, ya know? Now stay in your respective lanes, knittas and of course, n-ggas. The thought that Knitta, Please isn’t just a failed pun but an actual, intentional and specific response to graffiti writers with racist language is not a conclusion I’ve arrived at quickly, happily or lightly but in absence of any other evidence, it’s what makes most sense to me. The logo is not just a whitewashing of a Black Power symbol; it’s the actual wielding of a fist against a group of … vandals? miscreants? grittsters who have originated but not elevated? Rhetorically, of course. If I seem far off, please let me know. And I will continue to think about what you have written.

Best,
Alexis

I always see these these thoughtful criticisms with rolling eyes when they include ‘assomeonewhohas…’ and try to chump people who they believe undermines, usurps, plaigerizes, profits, exploits, or competes with that which is authentic. Ballderdash. A bunch of frumpy 20somethings take a phrase, make it into a tag line, post pictures of their simple knit jobs, that mimic the ‘authentic’ language of modern graffiti culture. The Romans gave us the word that describes using public and private space to send unauthorize messages, so let’s not try and lock down authenticity. A few texans trying to apply a theme to their knitta meme does not a knitting needle stabbing make. It also doesn’t mean they are intentionally or accidentally shake a fist at black-anything. That’s a big-time leap and one that really doesn’t make sense except to people striving to learn how to defend a thesis at a review committee.

Ernesto,

I don’t want to come off as a comment troll, but it looks like I have. I understand the power of words, and their judicious use. I think I can’t stand Alexis L. stance. She does a lot of work to defend it, and quotes her sources, so I can see the learned style. I just don’t think she fathoms what I perceive to be the Knitta Please product. In Texas, just because you wear boots doesn’t make you a cowboy. Tagging street lamps with yarn doesn’t really make you a crew, but we’d assume that people understood that by the very maternal material involved. http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/grannies.html
Due to my laziness and desire not to get into a debate on the semiotics of street sewing, I won’t bother you with why the why, but I’ll just lay out the what, since I think you already know something about the knitta crew and about graffiti. What is the Knitta Please product? A business woman, who comes up with an idea to put unwanted yarn on hard surfaces instead of flesh or canvas. She decides the contrast is significant, supported by people’s feedback. She wants to expose it to more people. She expands the idea. She gives it a witty knitty name, she gathers fans and supporters, she franchises. loses control of the message, but uses her business sense and knitta name association to get paid to discuss and install yarn around the world. She attempts to protect the brand so she can be the paid Banksy of knitters and continue to get funding for occasional trips to show her artful idea. How American is that? Very. As to the use of Knitta-imitative crew names, and whatup knitta? I think it has to do with the fact that you know who the artist is, unlike anonymous taggers, knowing she is white makes her a target of intellectuals who want to expose the meaning of yarn, and names, and profit motives and art. If she had remained anonymous, we’d all be left to wonder ‘what it all means’. Knitta Please are the unauthorized and franchised art installations for Seyeg. It capitalizes on the knitting fad that is spreading to throughout 20 something women. KP is Contrasting the knitty from the gritty, the urban from the urbane, furthering her artistic and commercial enterprises. The fact that she takes language of the streets and uses it for her own commercial and artistic purposes…sounds like pop art immemorial to me. Perhaps she should change her tag to Knitti-gritti and avoid the intellectual animus altogether.

I enjoyed reading your post and the comments, a lot of thoughts and ideas to process and ponder. I was confused at first about the reasons for people being upset, but I wasn’t born and raised in this culture and wasn’t familiar with the connotations. After reading up on it and hearing other opinions, discussions I am not surprised people are upset about it.
I do yarnbombing because it is fun and as a artist I enjoyed the challenge of putting knitting into a different context as well as the place in which it is attached.
I don’t regard myself as a graffiti artist ( although I have done a wee bit in my younger days), a knitter (my passion is mixed media arts, painting, embroidery)or someone who is making a feminist statement, nor am I a bored old granny, nor do I feel it replaces traditional graffiti forms (which I LOVE, just took a load of pics of some in puerto rico). My friend and I started doing it after we had put together a street themed art event for the Yellow Springs Arts council. The town really LOVED what we were doing and encouraged us. It has nothing to do with any desire to have it replace other street art, it’s just something that gives our community joy and a bit whimsy in between my more serious work.
regards Corrine