Upfest 2015

We're full into festival season now and usually this means large fields awash with tents and music stages. Being a bit different we headed off to Upfest in Bristol for a weekend filled with street art.

Now in its seventh year Upfest takes over the streets of the Bristol suburbs of Southville and Bedminster for a weekend. It bills itself as 'Europe's largest street art and graffiti festival'. There are over 30 different venues and over 250 artists from 25 countries all coming together to show off their talents.

Unlike other festivals this event remains true to the roots of street art and entry is free. Most of it is on streets people walk down every day whilst other artists set up their canvases in the parks and greens around BS3.

The canvases will be taken away after the end of the festival but all the artwork on the walls will remain until the next Upfest. Some pieces were small but others were on an epic scale. Otto Schade's piece highlights the plight of wild tigers.

One of the artists in attendance was Thierry Noir. In 1984 Noir started painting sections of the Berlin Wall. His simple but brightly coloured designs were his attempt to “transform it, make it ridiculous, and help destroy it”. He painted two of his distinctive works on a permanent wall inbetween chatting to visitors.

Down at St. Francis Church the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of West and East Germany was being commemorated. Local children were invited to design their own piece of street art entitled 'What I would have painted on the Berlin Wall'.

Many people think street art is more a form of vandalism but festivals such as Upfest show that these are really important pieces of artwork by some very talented people. Some serve as having a bit of fun, others to just paint a beautiful image. For many though it remains a form of activism and a forceful way to get their message to the public.