Banksy’s identity reportedly traced to Bristol-born artist after Reuters inquiry

Highlights

• Reuters inquiry links Banksy to Bristol artist Robin Gunningham, born in 1973
• Evidence includes Ukraine mural witnesses, travel records and earlier court documents
• Long-running speculation involving Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja also examined

Ukraine murals revive the mystery

The identity of the elusive street artist Banksy may have been uncovered after a detailed investigation by Reuters linked him to Bristol-born graffiti artist Robin Gunningham.

The report centres on a series of murals that appeared in Ukraine in 2022 and were later confirmed by Banksy on Instagram. One of the most striking works showed a bearded man bathing in a bathtub painted on the wall of a bomb-damaged apartment building in Horenka, a village near Kyiv.

Witnesses told Reuters that three people arrived at the location in an ambulance before the mural appeared. Two masked painters carried cardboard stencils and spray-painted the image onto what remained of an interior wall of the building.

When Reuters journalists visited Horenka weeks later, they showed residents photographs of several figures long rumoured to be Banksy. These included French street artist Thierry Guetta, known as Mr Brainwash, Massive Attack musician Robert Del Naja, and Bristol native Robin Gunningham.

Travel records and witnesses point to Gunningham

The investigation found that documentary photographer Giles Duley, who escorted the painters in Ukraine, entered the country from Poland on 28 October 2022. Reuters confirmed that Del Naja crossed the border the same day.

However, the agency also learned that a man travelling under the name David Jones crossed at the same border point on that date. According to a source familiar with Ukrainian immigration records, the passport carried the same birth date as Robin Gunningham.

Reuters reported that Gunningham later used the name David Jones, though it remains unclear whether he still does.

Another piece of evidence came from a graffiti arrest in New York in 2000. Court and police records from the incident repeatedly name Robin Gunningham after a man was caught defacing a billboard on Hudson Street.

Those documents added to earlier media investigations that had pointed towards the Bristol-born artist for nearly two decades.

Decades of speculation around Banksy’s identity

Banksy’s identity has been debated for years, with several prominent figures suggested as possible candidates. Robert Del Naja, a founding member of Massive Attack and a graffiti pioneer known as 3D, has frequently been linked to the artist because of his background in street art and his connections to Bristol.

Some theories also noted that Banksy works appeared in cities around the same time Massive Attack were touring. But Reuters said its investigation found no evidence confirming Del Naja as the artist.

Earlier clues had also surfaced in photographs taken in Jamaica in 2004 by photographer Peter Dean Rickards, who captured Banksy at work. Those images were later linked to Gunningham in previous reporting.

Gunningham attended Bristol Cathedral School, where archived student magazines recorded his early artistic work, including a comic strip he produced as a child.

Banksy has built a global reputation for satirical stencil works with sharp social commentary, while maintaining strict anonymity. Pieces such as Girl with Balloon have become some of the most recognisable images in contemporary art, and the artist’s carefully staged public stunts — including the shredding of the painting at a 2018 auction — have added to the legend surrounding the name.