I remember when the Graffiti Tunnel first began taking shape at Leake Street in London Waterloo back in 2013. I was fascinated by the work that kept appearing, on the walls, on the roof, on every surface of that long, gloomy, dank space. I love figurative art and there was so much of it.
But the nature of a place like this is that each piece of art only lasts until the day another artist comes along and paints over it.
Many of the figurative pieces I loved have gone now and I'm so glad I took photos on the days I saw them. But some still remain, painted onto the less accessible surfaces high up on the roof and on the upper sections of the tunnel's curved walls.
The tunnel itself has developed too. It now hosts the Vaults Theatre, a games cafe and a restaurant. Many tourists come to see the graffiti artists at work. Despite all of this, for me the tunnel still retains its original feel and its overriding purpose of providing an unofficial space to create graffiti.
The transient nature of the tunnel's art means that much of it now only exists in a widely dispersed "digital gallery" on hundreds of different mobile phones and cameras around the world. What a great project it would be to gather all of those images together into one giant graffiti exhibition!
Have you been to the Graffiti Tunnel and taken photos of the works? If so, why not get in touch and I'll create another blog and gallery, and credit all contributors and artists.
Let's share the art that got painted over!
Artwork credits: not all of the artists' names were clearly visible when I took the photos featured in this blog, but the ones I could see were: Elmo, Wumzum, Iamlola, Morganico, Nelius and Hrnx. The cover image of a lion is by Spray Saint.
Links
You can find the graffiti tunnel on Google Maps
Leake Street Arches website
Blog copyright Barbara Grehs Published on 7 December 2019
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