Went to this stencil art street exhibition on bank holiday monday and it was busy! It had previously been advertised on BBC news and as soon as people hear the name Banksy or Banksky as most people like to refer to him they jump at the chance of a free day out. I was interested in the art itself which is a nice change from the stereotypical graffiti that is seen around just about every corner of London. This had much more meaning, style and clever uses of everyday images rather than just the bragging right of tagging the local kebab shop.
The main reason I was interested in seeing this spectacle was the street itself. My final studio project at uni was based in and around the Waterloo area and have spent many an afternoon wandering the darkest, dirtiest tributaries of Lower Marsh and York Rd. i had come to know Waterloo "like the back of my hand", a statement Bridget Snaith had once told me but never quite believed up until now.
So, Leake Street was its name and its an unusual place to say the least, a service road is its main purpose but located randomly located along it are steel doors that occasionally swing open to reveal a suited smoker, or not. Its other purpose is a haven for rough sleepers who can be seen at almost any time of the day. Oh, and sometimes can be used as advertising space, see below..
The thing I found interesting about this event was how a pretty dull, sometimes scary place to be had attracted almost 30,000 people in 3 days. it was an impressive statistic, I cant imagine that many people walking along there in a year.
to sum up I though it was an interesting day out with a lot of stuff to see not just stencil art and i think the use of this underused public road was a perfect location. I just hope that a lot of the stuff from the 3 days is left on the walls and not destroyed.
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