Have you ever heard of environmentally friendly street art?

Welcome to “green graffiti”! These are street art masterpieces that are created from living moss and grasses, representing mini urban ecosystems but with a distinctly artistic edge. Moss is attached to walls with biodegradable ingredients, where it colonizes and grows.

Moss art is a newer medium for street artists. It grows very easily, and unlike other urban art mediums, has no environmentally detrimental aspects whatsoever. It is even a clever way for artists to reclaim the wild in the most urban of spaces.

For example, urban artist SpY has created circular art covered in vines in Besancon, France, while UK-based Anna Garforth is well known for her moss typography graffiti (aka Mossenger) from London to Hong Kong. Her open air moss-crafted words depict her environmental concerns with compelling results.

Mown a Lisa is the brainchild of a UK 3D artist, with the famous Mona Lisa by Da Vinci snipped into a lawn.

Hungarian trained, Brooklyn-based artist Edina Tokodi has created rabbits and deer out of moss and these adorn walls in the gritty urban landscape of New York City. This is art that is meant to be experienced by touch and smell as well as by sight, bringing nature and its delights back into the city.

At Lili’uokalani Botanical Gardens in Honolulu, a storm drain that opens onto a wall has been transformed into a living moss waterfall.

Danish artist Morten Flyverbom creates ecological urban art. One piece was a VW beetle entirely covered in grass.

The Caixa Madrid Museum has an entire wall covered in moss and grass, as envisioned by Patrick Blanc.

You too can create moss art – there are numerous websites that explain the process. (You simply need clumps of moss, natural yoghurt or buttermilk, sugar, a lidded plastic pot, paint brush, and spray mister. Moss thrives in damp areas).

In the meantime, bring urban art into your wardrobe with unique leather products from United Streets of Art. From canvas and leather messenger bags to cool luggage tags and phone cases, we have it all!