Along Northampton’s Kettering Road, on St. Matthews Parade by Kingsley Park Terrace, there is the mural of a chicken painted large against the demarcating walls of Heather's Coffee Shop, signed by the artist Binty Bint. Around this neck of the woods, no one is a stranger to the color and sprayed radiance of Binty’s artwork.
Plastered on the walls of the antique store, 0n garage doors, and on the side of waste-bins, her brand of 'chickens' have found its share of collectors and admirers. With each square-inch of surface she paints, she flings open a can of optimism and lengthens the diversity of Northamptonshire’s creative community. One cold and cloudy morning in December, I tailed Binty to someone's home. She had been invited to bless their waste-bins with her paint. Quickly, I attacked with a series of nosey questions.
Q: How important is it for the Community to embrace the graffiti artist?
When I was a lot younger, I thought I'll just put my name on everything!. But the community are the ones who have got to live with it. I think it's an understanding that comes with age, now I just want to put my work somewhere where someone can walk past and it makes them smile. It's important to be accepted by your community or else you'd just p!ss everyone off.
Q: How would you classify yourself ?
That's the hardest question ever isn't it [Laughs.] If I call myself a 'graffiti artist' there is this air of vandalism attached, and If I say 'street artist' the graffiti people would think I'm a sell out. On my Facebook page, it just says 'Artist'.
Q: What inspired you to start spray-painting?
Ehmm, your questions are hard, they're obvious too. [Long pause] Making - - I wanted to make boring things prettier, Yeh that's my answer.
Q: How long did it take you to get good?
I started off dreadful. Also the paint was poor quality back then, but a bad workman blames their tools don't they? [She laughs.] No I was just dreadful. But I loved it, and then you meet all the really good people, and it makes you want to take more risks and get better. And that's what I did, I hope.
Q: The scene is noticeably male dominated, Why do you think more females aren't encouraged to do graffiti work?
I think I'm the wrong girl to ask. There are a couple girls in the scene, but they don't seem to have the same staying power as the boys do, I don't know why. But I have staying power.
Q: When did you come up with the ‘the Chicken’?
In 2012, the Chicken was born.
Q: What does ‘the Chicken’ represent?
They represent whatever you want them to represent. They are literally just Chickens. I don't want to say they represent anything, instead I quite like to hear what others make of them. I mean that's what Art is meant to do right ?, to provoke thought.
Q: What's your relationship with Northampton?
As a youngster I hung out with all the people from Northampton. After school I would take the bus and head down to the skate park, back at the original Radlands. I found my love for graffiti in Northampton and its played a huge part in influencing my work today. I love the place.
Q: What are your plans for the new year [2022]?
I just bought a Pottery kiln. I sit there at night making Pottery [Laughs]. The trouble with ceramic, you have to go over with three layers of paint. I've been racking my brain looking for a simple design to use. The other night I made an Oven dish. Oven dishes are pretty boring.
Q: What's your message for the New year?
My message has always been, you look nice. And it would still be that, 'you look nice'.
The End.
A GREASEDELBOW Interview.
Instagram: @binty.bint
Check out the Binty store here ~ bintybint.com
Published: 07/01/2022
Written by Dan O. Eboka
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