Inside the Big Issue: The 10Foot takeover

There are several reasons to run a guest-edited edition. The first is the guest editor. They will be an interesting person, with interesting things to say. They’ll have a cachet and a hook. They’ll bring a new audience and enliven the existing one.

Then, it’s because of access. They’ll unlock doors that have previously been tricky to get through. Big Issue enjoys great access, due to nearly 35 years of trust – people know they won’t be stung by speaking to us. But that guest editor can always find somebody new, and ideally somebody you’ve not really thought about before. Then, there’s the magic.

When things become really great is when the guest editor, with their vision, access and extra indescribable element, brings everything in and you have an edition for the ages. We’ve had it over the years: when Dame Joan Bakewell made us look again at older women and stopped them being invisible, long before that conversation really took hold elsewhere; Mark Millar assembled a cast that only he could – including Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) interviewing The Kinks; and Armando Iannucci, in a brilliant first, brought two of his great creations together – Alan Partridge interviewing Malcolm Tucker.

All of them, and our other great guest editors (nods here to Charming Baker, Jarvis Cocker and The Connor Brothers) have set the pages alight. But their editorship fitted within the bounds of regular Big Issue presentation.

10Foot changed everything. His vision and his delivery have been so singular, so dramatic, that the only way to let it take off was to let him take everything. Every page, every ad, every aspect, is through his eyes. It says everything about him and his world view that he wanted Banksy to be given equal billing to a local Indian restaurant. His engagement with the process, working with us on every page, has been something to savour.

You may be unfamiliar with the world of graffiti writing – I certainly was. But you will find much to challenge your received notions about the world in this landmark edition. What more could you ask from a guest editor?”

The 10Foot Big Issue special os on sale now across the UK. It can be bought from street vendors or online through the Big Issue Shop by visiting bigissueshop.com.

What is in this week’s Big Issue?

Banksy’s interview with ‘Britain’s most infamous street vandal’ TOX

“Traditionally there’s always been mistrust and outright beef between ‘proper’ graffiti artists and street artists,” Banksy asks TOX. “Does that still hold or have things softened a little?”

Kneecap star DJ Próvaí’s poem

J Ó Dochartaigh, aka DJ Próvaí, is one-third of Belfast hip-hop phenomenon Kneecap alongside Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap. Recently nominated for six Baftas, they playfully said they’d swap them for the six northern Irish counties. They are politically involved clever blokes who are standing against occupations of all types, and so getting an audience the uninvolved can only wish for. Ó Dochartaigh has written a poem for St Patrick’s Day.

Graffiti artist Fume’s second ever interview

Fume DDS holds the Stonechip World Record for consistent vandalism, having painted trains since April 1992, to be precise. He has guided and inspired subsequent generations of writers and has been a key force of the infamous DDS crew and, hence, many of London’s most audacious graffiti missions. He talks to the Big Issue about West London and more.

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