Highlights of yarn bomber Magda Sayeg’s early work include a knitting/crochet-covered bus in Mexico City.
Over the years, I’ve shared photos of guerilla-knitting projects around the world — anonymous knitted and crocheted decorations in unexpected places. Although the story is mostly a visual one, I like having some text for my posts and managed to find this interview with yarn artist Magda Sayeg.
Liza Graves at StyleBluePrint spoke with Sayeg by phone.
“Have you noticed a statue in your city covered in knitting? Or perhaps some trees, or a stop sign? This is known as yarn bombing and Magda Sayeg, a globally recognized textile artist, is known as the mother of yarn bombing. …
“Graves: When did you start knitting?
“Sayeg: Oh, maybe 15 or 16 to make a scarf for a then-boyfriend. … That first door knob? That took about three minutes. It was fast and quickly satisfying and I started doing more. …
“Graves: I recently saw an entire city block that was ‘yarn bombed’ in Columbia, South Carolina. How would I know if this was yarn bombing or a sanctioned art installation?
“Sayeg: Most likely it was sanctioned. When something is done at that level, where you can tell it took coordination on many levels … usually somebody approved something.
“Graves: What was the reaction to your first yarn bomb and when was it?
“Sayeg: That was the door handle on my boutique, in 2004, and it was surprisingly positive. … Then, I did a stop sign pole down the street. Then, several stop sign poles. Houston’s urban environment was my playground. Houston was a great city for this. It’s overdeveloped and there was not a lot of civic pride, at the time at least. As a citizen, you felt powerless. Old homes were being torn down for condos … Beautiful art comes from dark places. If you’re happy, are you motivated? When you are frustrated, you act accordingly. I was frustrated.
“Graves: Does anyone get upset about it? …
“Sayeg: Sure, there has been some backlash. Some people would say that it gets ugly and dirty. Some say it’s littering. … It’s silly for anyone to get mad about this. We are bombarded by advertising that says ‘lose weight now’ and auto insurance or other things. This has no financial profit. It’s sweet. It should not be vilified in any way. …
“Graves: Where are you? [Laughing] It’s so loud!
“Sayeg: Dover Street Market! I’m in a department store. I believe so strongly in this piece. I have so much gratitude and love for this store. I have a permanent installation here and over time, it just needs a little bit of love. We need to defuzz it and that’s what we’re doing here today.
“Graves: Do you miss anything about the South [after moving from Texas to New York]?
“Sayeg: I think we have a southern hospitality that is hard to explain unless you are southern. … I miss the accents. Texmex is something I totally miss and I will never get the same here. … And, the word y’all. Y’all means ‘all,’ and I’ve always defended that. …
“Graves: Any advice or quotes? …
“Sayeg: You can come from dark places and you can come out shining. I could live the rest of my life complaining. Now, I’m a globally recognized artist. My mother still comes from the belief that women are here for men. She doesn’t care that my TED Talk has had over a million views … she cares that I’m not married. My want is to let women know that nothing is insurmountable. You can get to the other side alive and well and be proud of yourself.” More here.
On Instagram, the artist is @magdasayeg. And there are other great pictures at Sayeg’s website, here.
Photo: Ben Sayeg
Sayeg defuzzing her knitting installation in a New York department store.
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