‘Dangerous? No. Hackney’s friendlier than a Google search suggests,’ says artist

Sarah Pletts at her Hackney is Friendly stall. Photograph: Sarah Pletts

East London rapper Professor Green describes it as being as wild as ‘The Jungle’ and former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith famously said she wouldn’t feel safe walking around here alone.

But Hackney’s well-established reputation for danger is being challenged by a “colourful, community artist” attempting to raise the borough’s profile on the streets and beyond.

Designed and run by resident Sarah Pletts, ‘Hackney is Friendly’ is a pop-up campaign aimed at changing the most commonly searched term on Google from ‘Hackney is…rough’ to ‘Hackney is…friendly’

Accompanied by a suitably colourful costume and decorated barrow, she has been promoting community spirit and openness, chatting to passers-by on Narrow Way at the top of Mare Street since the 4 July.

“It has been really fascinating. I have been blown away by people’s responses,” says Sarah.

On her blog, set up to document the daily interaction she encounters, Sarah says she is “discovering what a political act it is to stand in the street open for communication” but insists, “I am not a politician. I am just an artist; but I am here to listen.”

Google searches of other London boroughs yield equally reductive results asserting that ‘Whitechapel is satanic’ and ‘Bexley is bonkers’.

Sarah’s aim is to celebrate Hackney as much more complex, vibrant and diverse than such limited phrases are able to convey.

Weather permitting; Sarah will be stationed on Narrow Way at the north end of Mare Street every Thursday and Friday between 1.30pm and 3pm until 13 September.

For more details check hackneyisfriendly.co.uk