Hello and welcome to my little corner of SteemIt!
Today we are going to be taking a walk down Leake Street in London. Leake Street started out life as a through road primarily for taxis around Waterloo Train Station. It is a tunnel which runs from one side of Waterloo Station to the other, right underneath the main concourse.
When the EuroStar, the train line linking the UK to mainland Europe and France, was operational from Waterloo the road was at its busiest. This didnt last long however as the EuroStar Terminal moved to London St Pancras Station in 2007, leaving Leake Street with little passing traffic.
In 2008 Banksy - the world renowned street artist and stencil guru - proposed the Cans Festival at Leake Street; a collaboration with the local authorities and London's popular graffiti scene. This drew people from throughout the UK and Europe to put their art on display (https://blackcablondon.net/tag/cans-festival/).
Since then Leake Street has been largely closed off to traffic, and the entire 200m of this tunnel, under one of the busiest train stations in Europe, has become a home for legal graffiti, street art and installations where anyone can join in.
The art work doesn't last long down there - I have watched talented artists work on a mural on a Friday only for it to be two murals deep under paint come Monday. And this got me to thinking - there is a lot of really great work going on which just doesn't get seen. Most Londoners dont even know its here and you can stroll through freely any time and watch artists at work, and most in my experience are very friendly and happy to talk about what theyre doing, with many visiting from overseas.
So I took my camera for a walk with me and over a few days I have tried to capture the best on show. Where known I listed the artists name (not many!), however I need your help! So if you see your art below let me know and Ill add the details.
I intend to make this a semi regular post with the latest from Leake Street every now and then! All the photographs are my own, with some post prod touches applied. NONE of the art work on show in these pictures is by me.
Enjoy and let me know what you think - should I include more or less next time? Should the pictures be "raw" without any editing? And how are the sizes - suitable or too big/small?
ARTIST - YAMER from France
ARTIST - UNKNOWN
ARTIST - AERO
ARTIST - UNKNOWN
ARTIST - UNKNOWN
ARTIST - UNKNOWN
ARTIST - SKYHIGH
ARTIST - THE SEYER
ARTIST - TOK40
ARTIST - UNKNOWN
ARTIST - PAD303
ARTIST - PAD303 with PD1882 tinkering
ARTIST - UNKNOWN - but they speak sense!
ARTIST - UNKNOWN with PD1882 tinkering
Cheers for now!
PD1882