It’s time to venture into the unending world of London street art. When I moved here, it quickly became apparent that South London’s many incredible murals were not all conveniently located in the same few alleyways as had been the case in some other cities, or—as I would later learn—even other parts of London. On the contrary, South London was going to make me do some WALKING in order to find its murals. This was a true scavenger hunt.
While there were a couple of times I set out with my camera in “mission mode” to aggregate this collection of murals, much of it was also stuff that I just happened to walk by at some point, so I snapped a picture on my phone. I’ve actually been doing this all over London since I arrived. However, I’m going to attempt to do this in a (relatively) localized way, so there is more than one of these articles currently in the queue. The locality of this first article is simply “South London,” which I am defining as anywhere south of the River Thames. It’s still a massive area, but it seems to be an often-referenced geographical border in London. The majority of these murals came from Brixton, Peckham, and Brockley, but there are other random locations sprinkled in as well, including Streatham, Croydon, Nunhead, and Clapham.
I found some really cool things! However, none of them made me smile as much as this hilarious 2-part series on “THE WORM.”
So let’s jump into the murals of South London! Honestly, even this article, as long as it is, doesn’t nearly capture all that is down here, but if you didn’t notice, the title of this article says “Volume 1.” There is more on the way—both from South London, and from London as a whole.
But for now, please enjoy this stunning collection of pieces, most of which—right this very minute, as you read these words—are still sitting quietly on walls around South London as life carries on around them. Maybe I’m just weird, but it’s nice to think of these murals as being sentient like the paintings in Harry Potter. Some of the figures in these murals feel—to me—like they are watching over their neighborhoods and communities in silent kinship, keeping people safe. That is a nice thought that I am choosing to indulge as I hunt for murals in London.
As always, I have done my best to track down the incredible artists responsible for the murals above. Below you will find every artist that I was able to identify (in a completely random order), but if I have missed anybody, please reach out and let me know! It’s really important to me that I can attribute these correctly wherever possible.
Harry Blackmore (@harry.blackmore)
Ink!1980baby (@ink1980baby)
The Artful Dodger (A. Dee) (@artful_dodger_01)
Dale McCrea
Amanda Denise Graham (@amandadgraham)
Angelica Nikolov
Boudicca C (@boudiccapaloma)
Gill Day
Brian Barnes
Angie Biltcliffe & Karen Smith (Anchor Designs)
One nice thing about assembling these articles is the fact that my taking these pictures sometimes prompts other people passing by on the street to notice these murals too, often seemingly for the first time.
Here’s a bit more flavor from around this area if you’re interested. I think there are some really interesting little details here that wouldn’t have necessarily made the “main” gallery above.
I’ve said it before on this website and I’ll say it again: London is EASILY the most diverse place I have ever lived. Honestly, it’s hard to imagine any place on earth being more diverse than London. That is not hyperbole! I truly don’t think anywhere else can touch it in terms of diversity. So it should come as no surprise that London’s street art is as interesting and colorful as its inhabitants.
There’s more on the way from London—both in terms of street art, and otherwise—but for now I will leave you with track from and about South London.
