Bankside Gallery

At the beginning of this year, Hull had a visit from the world famous street artist Banksy.  At first there were many doubts as to whether the new graffiti on Hull's permanently raised Scott Street Bridge really was a Banksy but the artist confirmed on his Instagram account and so all hell broke loose with visitors from far and wide rushing to see it, take selfies next to it etc. 

Sadly, within hours some cretin had sprayed over it but to the rescue came a local window-cleaner who managed to clean off the damage.  The local council then saw the value of the piece and promptly protected it with a sheet of perspex.  I'd like to think Banksy had a bit of a chuckle over all this fuss and bother.

Draw the Raised Bridge! by Banksy

The best thing to come out of it all though was the inspiration for the 'Bankside Gallery'.  Instigated by a group of local street artists, permission was sought and granted from the Council and property owners in this run-down almost derelict in parts, industrial area of the city for street artists to decorate the walls with colourful murals.  It's certainly brightened up the area and many people's daily commute too, as well as attracting visits from coach parties from other parts of the country, the BBC One Show and arguably most importantly, local schools on days out are using it for inspiration.  Oh, and local pub The Whalebone is benefiting from the extra trade!

Over the Easter weekend, Patrick and I popped down for a drive through and had a little wander along to see it all and of course, the piece that started it all, the Banksy.  Whilst there we saw a guy just starting out on a huge piece and I had a chat with him. 

He explained that there are public walls and permission walls.  Public walls are what the council have given permission for and anyone can go along and paint at any time, over any other work that may already be there.  Permission walls are ones that the property owner has given permission for and any work there will be there for three months until it is allocated to another artist.  The hope of artists is to be allocated a permission wall because that means their work will been seen for longer and when you are investing a lot of time and money (this guy had spent over £90 on paint), you don't really want the possibility of someone painting over it 12 hours later.

Here are a few photos I took of just a fraction of the amazing artwork on display but why not go down and have a look for yourself.  Don't forget to pop into The Whalebone for a swifty whilst your there!