Imagine a familiar street-art technique transformed with a living material: an art form that creates miniature ecosystems in complex, beautiful patterns. Moss graffiti brings a softer kind of intervention to urban walls. It can be used on stone, brick, and concrete, and tutorials for simple versions are easy to find online. The London-based artist Anna Garforth has created especially memorable moss graffiti projects that show how poetic this material can be.
Moss graffiti project – Mossenger
Mossenger was inspired by guerrilla gardening and the wish to bring life back to gray city walls. The project used text by poet Eleanor Stevens, cut in moss and attached with biodegradable materials. As the moss grows, the words slowly spread across the wall; further lines of the poem were intended to appear elsewhere in the city.
Moss graffiti projects with a message
The Big Bang was a moss installation shown at the Russian Club in the UK during the W Project, a celebration of women artists. The round moss forms depict Mother Earth as a seed-shattering explosion.
Grow project
Garforth’s moss graffiti project "Grow" appeared on a wall in London that was scheduled for demolition. She did not disclose the exact location; the work expressed appreciation for an existing pocket of urban wilderness before it disappeared.
Moss Cross Project
Finally, Moss Cross was created for the Urban Physic Garden, an urban community project by architects, artists, and designers in the UK that explored nature and its healing properties. Moss offers a fresh way to green empty walls; it also has antibacterial properties and was used as a wound dressing during World War II.
Moss Graffiti Guide
Peter Dark
Anna Lohan
