London mural festival kicks off

Murals are transforming some of London's grey walls as it celebrates its first Mural Festival.

The festival tasks more than 150 artists assembled from far and wide with creating over 60 larger than life new pieces to grace private houses, housing estates, cultural centres and other public areas in a process UK street artist D*Face explains.

D*Face: "So, each mural takes, each mural takes about a week of pre-planning and then about a week of painting. So irrespective of the scale, they generally take 5 to 7 days."

Contributors bring their unique artistic perspectives to the project, yet engage with the wall's owner to incorporate their wishes into the work.

Founder and CEO of London Mural Festival, Lee Bofkin, explores its benefits.

Bofkin: "We believe, strongly, that our city should be painted more. They encourage people to slow down, to have new conversations, to appreciate their environment a bit more, to get off their phone a little bit. Or, to share it on their phone but encourage other people to leave the house a bit."

By participating in September's festival, the artists aim to leave behind more than a splash of colour and enrich London's visual and social landscape.

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