The most wide-ranging and up-to-date volume available on the enigmatic and controversial graffiti artist, this deeply researched and highly personal tribute explores how Banksy continues to defy accepted wisdom about artistic success, growing only more famous and powerful even as he sticks to his anti-establishment platform and to his mission to give a voice to the voiceless. Accompanied by stunning full-page, full-color reproductions and photographs of works in situ-including many that have been lost to time -photographer and street art expert Alessandra Mattanza's impassioned and informed text follows Banksy's career trajectory from creator of message-laden stencils on London's city walls to a sought-after champion of human and environmental rights. She investigates many of the key images that populate Banksy's work-animals, children, historic figures, balloons, cartoon characters, police officers, and others. She shows how Banksy's oeuvre has expanded beyond graffiti and stenciling and how his art has helped support his activism in a variety of causes-from calls for peace in the Middle East to the preservation of the natural environment. Best of all she helps readers make sense of the rather unusual path Banksy has chosen-an artist who uses his global platform to raise awareness about the underserved, rather than to his own celebrity. Readers will come away with a new understanding of how Banksy helped transform an illegal act of criminal damage into a high art form, and how, by ridiculing institutionalized art, he has achieved enormous fame within those very institutions.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 230 x 300 mm

Publication Date: 28-02-2022

The power, glory, diversity, and talent of women street artists finally gets the attention it deserves in the first book to focus solely on the female gaze writ large on urban walls and sidewalks across five continents. If street art is, in itself, an act of rebellion, it is tragically ironic that the genre seems dominated by men. This exciting book is an important first step in shedding light on the substantial number of women who are gaining fame in the street art world. It brings together the work of 24 artists, through dazzling photographs of their work and intimate portraits of their lives based on interviews collected by award-winning journalist Alessandra Mattanza. On walls, sidewalks, prison cells, grain silos and other nontraditional canvases, these artists tackle ideas around empowerment, feminism, the pink revolution, body shaming and body imagery, racism, and the climate crisis. From Oklahoma City and Brooklyn, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh makes site specific work that considers how people experience race and gender within their surrounding environments. South African multidisciplinary artist Faith XLVII imbues her narratives with a longing for a deeper connection to nature, and a resurrection of the divine feminine. Italy’s Camilla Falsini incorporates joyful, bold colors and simple shapes to deliver serious messages about the environment. Shamsia Hassani, one of Afghanistan’s first female street artists, makes vibrant murals and paintings in which women play musical instruments as a vehicle for self-expression. Bursting with colorful photographs of works in situ as well as in detail, this thrilling and incisive book proves that street art is not only female—it’s the essence of conceptual rebellion itself.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 235 x 305 mm

Publication Date: 15-09-2022

As street artists move from the fringe to the mainstream, it’s hard to know who is a true talent and who’s just a flash in the pan. Filled with stunning photography and portraits of each artist, this book identifies twenty rising stars whose imaginative and technically brilliant works are bringing them to the forefront of the genre. Each artist is profiled in multiple-page spreads that include background texts, portraits, and a sampling of their work. Included here are London-based artist Ben Slow, whose black ink and deeply expressive faces grace a number of buildings in the UK capital; Parisian artist Ardif, whose hybrid creatures merge machines with nature; Inti, who uses large, vividly colored murals to critique modern Chilean society; and American Vince Ballentine, whose technique combines elements of rap and hip hop. Whether rebelling against the establishment or bringing communities together; highlighting important issues or expressing a unique creative vision; these artists are living proof of street art’s lasting influence, infinite adaptability, and remarkable diversity.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 240

Dimensions: 235 x 305 mm

Publication Date: 31-10-2023