Illustration for Stir magazine

The latest issue of Stir magazine came out today on the topic of commoning in the city and features this illustration of mine. It represents my ideal urban store cupboard packed full of preserves made from food foraged or grown in community growing sites.

As a volunteer at a community orchard in a public park in Hackney, the most common question people ask when they visit is, "how are you going to stop people from taking all this stuff?" Just last weekend, I encountered a woman who asked this very question. She then explained to me that her granddaughters love rhubarb crumble and I convinced her (after much effort) to take a bunch of it so she could make their favorite treat. Even when permission is explicitly granted, it still contradicts everything we are taught about private property and getting anything for free in our current system.

This is a nod to the sense of naughtiness that so many people feel about taking what's right under their noses and how when they push through that fear, they open up a world of new possibilities.

For the uncaged birds

This is a project that has been in the works for well over a year. The Caged Bird Club's intent is to reclaim space in order to make cities more beautiful and livable and that means nature needs to be one of our beneficiaries. Every part of these bird boxes is made from someone else's waste; the wood was tossed out, the paint was returned to the hardware store by unhappy consumers and the bike inner tubes holding the roofs on were punctured beyond repair.

wallpaper two

wallpaper design

My partner asked me to make some wallpaper designs for a book he's making. Repetition is great. I wish I had this on my wall now.