Shoreditch Street Art

The lowdown

The streets around Shoreditch and Brick Lane are one of the world's great open-air street-art galleries, and exploring them costs nothing. Walls, shutters, doorways and entire building ends are covered in murals, stencils, paste-ups and tags, a constantly shifting display that changes from week to week.

This is where international names and local unknowns paint side by side. Work by some of the biggest figures in the scene has appeared here over the years, and because the walls are repainted so often, the collection is never static. The piece you photograph today may be gone by next month.

You can wander freely and find it yourself, drifting down Brick Lane, Hanbury Street, Redchurch Street and the lanes around them, or join one of the many guided tours. Either way it is a free, living, ever-renewing gallery in the heart of the East End.