8 years ago a mysterious graffiti slogan appeared on Frodsham street, where it remained for several years before being eventually washed away. Appearing at roughly the same time as the creation of the ShitChester twitter account, the graffiti became a focal point its followers , and also inspired the evolution of the account, and a reflection of many people’s dissatisfaction with the city during the period of transition and “cultural desert”. Many went to pose by the unofficial place of pilgrimage, and the artwork even featured on a range of T shirts.
A long time mystery now solved via a connection on Instagram, we can finally close the loop and chat to the creator of this iconic piece of art. We salute you!
“Hi, there I’m Will. I’m an artist based in Liverpool and back in 2013 I created the ‘’We Need More Shit’ graffiti on Frodsham Street, Chester.
“Back in 2013 for a short while, I was obsessed with street art and public interventions. Any work that I was thinking about at that time was in a public space or on a wall.
“We Need More Shit’, along with other stencil pieces I did at the time was all about subverting and humouring the capitalist system. I remember me and my friend Justin went out a few times with a bucket of wheat paste which we used to paste huge cut-outs of pigs on walls all over the city. The themes in the work were explicit yet, I suppose clear; greed and consuming.
” Looking back on it now I cringe a little bit recalling my teenage anguish, anger, and love for anything that shocks the viewer but, saying that my political beliefs are pretty much the same, I just don’t tend to make art about it anymore. At the time I knew I had sprayed the piece onto the side of a bank but it definitely wasn’t a clear choice, but the significance must have blown slightly over my head.
“I only came across ShitChester only this year, which is crazy! I’ve never had twitter so I missed out on the initial surge of devotees to the account. A few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to see the graffiti piece posted in celebration of eight years of the account, but when I investigated more I was utterly shocked, confused, and of course, honoured to see how much that graffiti was central to the accounts image.
“I haven’t returned to any form of street art or stencils since then, I’ve predominantly worked in improvised dance and performance. Currently, I’m working on an exciting project with Grace Collins, a friend I went to university with, we are making a film for the Liverpool Biennial Arts Festival.
“!If you would like to follow my current work please follow memry_bnk on IG. ”
The Chester blog 