Street Art in Weston-super-Mare

Weston-super-Mare has one of the biggest and best outdoor galleries of street art in the South West.

For the last three years, The Upfest Weston Wallz project has been transforming the town and turning some of its walls into giant canvasses for talented artists to bring to life.

For one week each year, Weston becomes a playground for some of the UK's top street artists who come and leave their mark on the town at the Weston Wallz Festival. 

And it doesn't matter if you have missed Paint Week because their work lives on on dozens of walls around the town such as this eye-catching image below from My Dog Sighs.

In June 2023, the artists even held a weekend Spray Jam in the Italian Gardens. Here below is some of the work they produced. 

You can find your way around all the murals by using the map below. Hit the zoom button all the way into Weston and all the installations and their locations will appear.

Follow the map and you will get a walk like no other. You will be submerged in giant sealife scenes, be watched over by a massive cockrel, see the Weston donkeys immortalised above a bar and, if you can grab a pair of 3D glasses, you will see a giant mural that changes right in front of your very eyes.

So, keep your eyes peeled when you are out and about because you never know what you might see or who might be looking down on you.

You may well get more than you bargained for as well, because inter-mingled with all the Weston Wallz art there is also the JPS Art Trail with its brilliant illustrations and witty captions.

And... before you ask where's Banksy? Yes, we have got a Banksy in Weston-super-Mare. Bansky's pinwheel is currently on loan to Weston Museum and more than worth adding to your walk.

So lace up those walking boots and see all these wonderful artworks in person as the sheer size and scale of some of them has to be seen to be believed!

For your convenience we have also reproduced another map, below, showing just the Upfest Weston Wallz street art in the town.

Dismaland and SEE Monster

Weston has a proud recent history for hosting major arts events. In 2015, it hosted Banksy's Dismaland. This temporary project saw the Tropicana building transformed into a wonderfully dreary utopia of artworks and installations from the likes of Banksy, Mike Ross and Damien Hirst. Banksy himself organised the project.

Dismaland was a masterclass in secrecy, it wasn't until the doors opened did we finally realise what we had on our doorstep. Us locals were told that the Tropicana was being used as a film set for a new crime thriller called 'Grey Fox' from a production company called Atlas Entertainment.

Over the period of Dismaland, Weston-super-Mare saw a huge increase in visitor numbers. It was estimated in the first five weeks alone, over 150,000 visitors had passed through the doors. More importantly, it sparked something in the eyes of the world. The spotlight was shining brightly on Weston and it really put us on the map for those looking for a unique home for unique projects. It could be said that the success of Dismaland was one of the reasons why Weston was chosen be part of UNBOXED 2022 and host the colossal SEE MONSTER installation. 

SEE Monster saw a giant decomissioned North Sea oil platform Weighing in at 450 tonnes, that is the equivalent to 65 African Elephants or three Blue Whales, the SEE Monster – a retired North Sea platform – emerged from the sea with a fascinating back story. Part of SEE Monster's story was to get people talking about the issues of re-use, re-purposing and recycling. The final chapter of its sojourn in Weston-super-Mare was to witness it being dismantled and recycled.