📌 The People's Billboard: Wheatpasting as a Tool of Resistance
Like papier-mâché, but for walls.
In a world where corporate media dominates the airwaves and algorithms decide what we see, the streets remain one of the last truly public spaces. And on those streets, a single sheet of paper can speak louder than a thousand tweets.
Welcome to How to Resist—a blueprint for resistance rooted in nonviolent action, mutual aid, and community building for ordinary people who want to save democracy. Today, we’re exploring wheatpasting: a centuries-old tool that makes protest as accessible as it is subversive. Whether you're amplifying a cause, honoring a movement, or making a bold statement, wheatpasting offers a way to make your message stick (literally).
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“Every wall is a door.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wheatpasting
At the intersection of political posters and street art is wheatpasting, the practice of hanging posters in public spaces with wheatpaste—a tacky substance made by combining flour and water and setting it to boil until it reaches the right consistency to be used as an adhesive and protectorate. If you’ve ever made papier-mâché, then you have made a kind of wheatpaste!
Activists have long used wheatpasting as a form of nonviolent protest. Compared to other forms of print media, posters can be mass-produced noncommercially and are easily distributed. When posted in a high-trafficked area, posters can have an impressive reach, especially when amplified by social media. As it dries, wheatpaste hardens—just like the paste you make for papier-mâché, giving the posters a shellacked finish that protects the posters from the elements, for a time, at least.
A Recipe for Wheatpaste
Mix two parts white or whole-grain wheat flour with three parts water.
Stir to dissolve lumps. Heat the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously. When it thickens, add more water and continue cooking it on low heat for at least half an hour, stirring continuously. If not sticky enough, add a little bit of sugar or cornstarch. Use immediately or store for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Planning a Wheatpasting Campaign
Legal considerations: Wheatpasting, in and of itself, is not illegal. However, it may be illegal in your area to post posters or flyers on private property, public property, areas marked with signs reading “Post No Bills,” places where wheatpasting may cause environmental damage, places where posting posters and flyers are against local ordinances, and posting posters and flyers without the required permits and permissions.
✔️ As always, make sure you fully understand your rights and potential legal consequences before engaging in nonviolent actions.
Before You Paste
Define your goals — Awareness, solidarity, policy change? Know your purpose and tie the action into a larger strategy.
Check local laws — Understand what’s legal and what’s not in your area.
Choose your locations — High-traffic, visible, and ideally weather-protected.
Design your poster — Bold colors, large fonts, minimal text. Collaborate with artists if needed.
Make your paste — Flour + water = power. Or use wallpaper adhesive.
Assemble your team — Posterers, documentarians, lookouts, and support roles.
During the Action
Bring your materials — Posters, paste, brushes, gloves, water, and backup supplies.
Pick your time — Early morning or late night for less foot traffic and more discretion.
Hang your posters — See this guide for tips on how to do it right
Document the process — Photos, videos, stories. Capture the moment.
Stay aware — Be mindful of surroundings, respectful of property, and ready to adapt.
After the Action
Share your work — Post on social media with hashtags and context.
Track engagement — Use QR codes or links to measure reach.
Reflect and adapt — What worked? What didn’t? What’s next?
Plan your next move — Keep the momentum going.
Examples of Wheatpasting
AbsurdlyWell - Washington, D.C.
Street artist AbsurdlyWell wheatpasting in Washington, D.C.
Mark Strandquist - Philadelphia
Mark and fellow artists put up over 1,000 posters in 2020 to combat racism and urge people to wear masks.
Grow Up - London
“The Turd Reich” posters from Grow Up on a street in Bricklane, London’s East End, in early 2025.
Zola - Montreal
In an interview with It’s Going Down, Zola was asked what advice would she would give people who wanted to try this style of activism.
“Do it! You are the only one stopping yourself from trying. Things fall into place only a while after you start out. I started with no activist network, no knowledge in graff culture, no ability in drawing. I found a way to make it work with my first strength: staying home on photoshop a lot, and made some good friends along the way.” - Zola
What would you say…
If you knew the whole city would read it tomorrow?
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Resources
CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective. (n.d.). A Field Guide to Wheatpasting. CrimethInc. Retrieved April 23, 2025, from https://crimethinc.com/2017/07/18/a-field-guide-to-wheatpasting-everything-you-need-to-know-to-blanket-the-world-in-posters
New Philly Street Artist Installs Wheatpaste Celebrating the Women Who Ran for Office in 2018. (2018, December 24). Streets Dept. https://streetsdept.com/2018/12/23/new-philly-street-artist-installs-wheatpaste-celebrating-the-women-who-ran-for-office-in-2018/
Printing Service from Wheatpaste Posters: https://wheatpasteposters.com/poster-printing/
Sasquatch of Bioregion. (2018, December 29). A Cascadia Field Guide to Wheatpasting —. Cascadia Department of Bioregion. https://cascadiabioregion.org/department-of-bioregion/a-cascadian-field-guide-to-wheatpasting
Syke, J. (2024, January 22). How to wheatpaste: A field guide to making your posters stick. Wheatpaste Posters. https://wheatpasteposters.com/blog/how-to-wheatpaste/
Wollan, M. (2020, June 9). How to Wheat-Paste Posters. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/magazine/how-to-wheat-paste-posters.html
FILL THE WALLS WITH HOPE, RAGE, RESOURCES, AND DREAMS. (n.d.). FILL THE WALLS WITH HOPE, RAGE, RESOURCES, AND DREAMS. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://coverthewallswithhope.weebly.com/
Down, I. G. (2018, May 22). Wheatpasting the Revolution: An Interview with Zola. It’s Going Down. https://itsgoingdown.org/pasting-the-revolution-an-interview-with-zola/
ZOLA. (n.d.). Tumblr. Retrieved May 12, 2025, from https://zolamtl.tumblr.com/?og=1
Rojo, G. M. (2020, March 1). Chile’s protest street art: The writing is on the wall. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/51628295
I absolutely love this idea!!
Thank you for this!! ❤️❤️❤️💪