People + places + language + objects = social activism

On a walk through a neighbouring Milton Keynes town (Great Linford), we come across these signs, placed in neat flower beds cut by the side of the paths.

As residents, we have a responsibility to control 'our patch', and we have rules in place for dealing with border issues like fences and walls which define the land limits of our gardens.

These signs are telling me that someone (the local guerrilla gardening group perhaps) are pushing beyond their fence-defined territorial limits, and beyond the boundaries of their lawful remit into this public space, where maintenance is not their responsibility, but is controlled by another body such as the Local Authority.

I can see this, in part because the messages on the signs are not, I'm guessing, intended for me. I read them as intended to be read by the Local Authority maintenance staff who I presume have a job to spray the main pedestrian access routes and the bases of utility points in this estate with weedkillers.

These are messages to authorities, literally from the ground up. I look at them and smile because of course they are completely anonymous. I don't know who's put them there; there's no contact number, no named person behind the sign. The same tactics then, as used by signs from any 'authorised' body.

One area marked with a sign is not really on an access route, but by a wall. Would it be routinely weed-sprayed by staff? It almost looks like a garden extension: a 'land grab'. I'd assume this was the case, except the wall is too high and too much of a physical definition to easily suggest that motive. Then I wonder if local children are being brought up with a sense of activism. A parent teaching their children, 'we are taking control of our physical environment. Make signs, tell everyone, draw attention to this form of activism.' I'd very much approve of that.

The signs are non-confrontational in design. In the sign below, we have a pretty picture, the word please, and a poorly composed arrow, suggesting a certain design naivety and gaucheness. (I wonder if that's deliberate.)

Yet it's clear from all these signs, located in three distinct areas, here are people who have resources at their fingertips: gardening tools and office equipment, cable ties and ladders. And we can assume, if this is guerrilla gardening, here is no overnight strike. They're in this land for the summer, and probably beyond.

Yes, here is determination of people to take control of these spaces. People, places, language, objects, all coming together to create a change: to make me stop, think, and actively plan, Where could I do this, in the locality where I live?