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New exhibition celebrates Bristol's role in British street art

Beezer Street art in Bristol in 1983Beezer
A breakdancer pictured in front of Wild Bunch graffiti in Bristol in 1983. Wild Bunch was a collective of DJs, out of which came the band Massive Attack

A new exhibition will celebrate the city that led the way for modern British street art, its organisers say.

Vanguard/Bristol Street Art will tell the story of the pivotal role Bristol played in the rise of the genre in Great Britain.

It will run from 26 June until the end of October at Bristol's M Shed Museum.

As well as original works from street artists who were active in the 1980s and 1990s, the exhibition will feature photography and music.

Project director Mary McCarthy said the show, along with a four-month programme of events across the city including workshops, talks and public art, would celebrate how Bristol became the "birthplace of modern British street art".

Carrie Hitchcock Barton Hill graffiti BristolCarrie Hitchcock
Street art at Barton Hill Youth Club in Bristol, 1990
Karen Dews The DeanerKaren Dews
'The Deaner', a photograph taken by Karen Dews

"We can't call Bristol the birthplace of graffiti - France and New York fight for that title," she said.

"But we are charting the development of street art that happened here.

"By the mid 2000s you had festivals like See No Evil and Upfest which lots of people know about, but there is also a whole collective story that we felt hadn't really been explored.

"If we were doing a retrospective we would need a building 10 times the size of what we have, because of the sheer scale of what has happened in Bristol over the past 40 years in terms of the development of graffiti into street art has been immense.

"We are picking out key pivotal moments that had significant impact on the global phenomenon of street art as we know it today."

Yan Saunders Dean Lane skate park, BristolYan Saunders
A photograph taken at Bristol's Dean Lane skatepark in the early 1980s
Zzzone Studio The Duchess's Rouge by Bristol artist InkieZzzone Studio
New art by long-standing Bristol graffiti artists such as Inkie will feature in the exhibition

Alongside the exhibition there will be a series of exclusive releases, including a book about the evolution of street art, an album featuring tracks which were recorded in the early days of what is known as the 'Bristol Sound' and merchandise from some of the artists in the exhibition.

New works by artists familiar to Bristolians, including Andy Council, Bill Posters, Sickboy, Inkie, China Mike and many more will be part of the exhibition.

Pictures taken in the 1980s and 1990s by photographers such as Matthew Smith and Beezer will also feature.

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