needle-point grafitti

"we live not according to reason, but according to fashion" a quote by Seneca (4 BC till 65 AC) has been used and abused by the fashion in-crowd for long. But i think that who-ever embroidered this in reclaimed street-art graffiti way on the Zeedijk in Utrecht was thinking of something quite different than excusing fashion excesses. It seems more like a statement of protest. 

The statement is embroidered with what seems to be scraps of old fabric that have been torn into strips like a super-sized thread.  A fence that has probably been put up to prevent the public entering a vacant building-lot has been used as canvas. there is a fictive grid on the canvas on which the embroidery has been placed with great care. It's not the simplest, plainest letter-type that has been used, it's a cerif letter-type which is even more demanding to execute perfectly onto a fictive grid on a fence. For each stitch a knot or twirl has to be made to attach the thread. Whoever did this calculated the statement and the grid and with great perseverance and precision carried out the work. It all has an air of reclaimed art, reclaiming the street, this fence, using reclaimed fabric to make a statement.

This is clearly not fashion, nor is it fashionable (less urban art is fashionable of course). This is an area of Utrecht that is housing some creative scene, some old factory buildings that have been housing some of this creative scene are being demolished to give space to what? Modern urban living apartments for the hip hipster. The creative scene becomes homeless to house hipsters, that must be the essence of the statement; most people live according to fashion and not what they believe in. 

we live not according to reason, but according to fashion

we live not according to reason, but according to fashion

Ok, I admit it, it's tweaking the traditional essence of the statement, but I think in this case it might be what was truly meant. If you have been following my blog for longer you will know that I love reclaimed street-art, especially if it appears in the crafted form, love trying to solve the riddle. see also "in a world full of crooks".