A Walk Through Leake Street - Part 1 March 2018

in #photography7 years ago

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.

Leake Street Sign Scaled.jpg

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?

Yamer Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - YAMER from France

AEB  Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN

Aero Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - AERO

BronkSorez Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN

GodKnows2 Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN

Skydes Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN

SKYHIGH Kingfisher Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - SKYHIGH

SMO A51 Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - THE SEYER

Tok40 2 Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - TOK40

Tok40 Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN

PAD Lego Original.JPG
ARTIST - PAD303

PAD Lego Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - PAD303 with PD1882 tinkering

Nobody Likes A Tory Original.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN - but they speak sense!

Nobody Likes A Tory Scaled 675.JPG
ARTIST - UNKNOWN with PD1882 tinkering

Cheers for now!
PD1882

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Great post! Some really great artists out there. Looking forward to seeing more of these!

Thanks very much for comment and taking a look Peter! 👍
I'll be getting more up in the coming weeks. And some different posts too - some on crypto and also an urban explore or two!