Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel

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Fancy yourself as the next Banksy? Well, you can compare your skills to the elusive street artist in a little side street near Waterloo, and not have to keep looking over your shoulder as you do so...

That's because the Leake Street tunnel is home to legal graffiti - so you can feel at home practising your art in the graffiti tunnel.

Originating as a through road under the arches of Waterloo train station, the road became something a bit more interesting thanks to two key events - the road being blocked off to all traffic apart from pedestrians, and the curation of a graffiti show by, you've guessed it, Banksy.

During the first May Bank Holiday weekend of 2008, the Cans Festival, as it became known (a play on words of the famous movie festival in Cannes), featured works from graffiti artists all over the world, and a large painting by Banksy himself.

It was believed that the street would return back to normal after the event, but instead a second show was created for the August Bank holiday of that year, and by then the street had become an accepted place for graffiti art to be painted and displayed.

It is possible to see art being made any weekend, and though the painting varies wildly in quality, the street merits regular trips, thanks to how rapidly the murals are repainted.

Some recent murals of note have included an amazing full length painting of a scene from Super Mario, complete with power ups and of course polka dotted mushrooms, while some reflect topical issues happening in the news, or works from well-known graffiti artists mixing it with the amateurs.

Fancy a go? Well you know where to go, but be warned, the general rule seems to be that if you're image doesn't cut it in terms of quality, expect it not to be around too long - still, even Banksy started off somewhere...



#art
#photography
#places_of_interest
#pop_culture
#street_art
#things_to_see
#waterloo
%wnlondon