MARCH 2026 · PATINA
Turbo Superb
Bristol, England
The title comes from a tag on an electrical box on Stokes Croft. Two words on a sticker-covered surface on a street that has been tagged continuously. It was specific enough to keep.
Stokes Croft does not stop. The garage doors are covered. The utility boxes are covered. The back alleys are covered on both sides, cobbled surfaces running under it, archways at the end. At some point the surface area available is greater than the available taggers, and things become legible. A red corrugated garage shutter with a no-parking sign above it. A cobbled alley with graffiti walls and a dark archway at the end. A colourful cyclist mural at street level with a brutalist car park framed in trees above it.
The 'HELP' paste-up on a ruined stone building: large face mural above it, boarded windows, ivy growing through the gaps. Plants cascading from a broken window beside it. The building is not derelict in any useful sense — it stands, it is present on the street — but it has reached a state of integration with the surrounding paste-ups that makes it difficult to read as distinct from them.
At some point the surface area available is greater than the available taggers, and things become legible.
Stokes Croft — March 2026
The multi-storey car park roof offered a different set of conditions. The stairwell kiosk on the rooftop is covered end to end — tags layered over tags, years of addition. The rooftop was wet. The Bristol skyline visible behind. Looking down through the open void of a stairwell from above: rain puddles on grey concrete. The scale of the building compresses at that angle.
A black bucket hanging from a standpipe on a densely layered wall. I don't know what the bucket was doing there. It was doing something.
The burned sofa against gig posters and pallets: ashed debris, scorched wood, everything flat and black. The colour from the posters in the background is still operating. The fire happened some time ago and no one cleared it.
The large BRISTOL lettering on the ground in a city centre square. Painted by the council, presumably. Surrounded by street art. It could only be here.
A 'True Love' event poster on a sticker-covered column beside blue wooden pallets. The sentiment survives the surface.
Graffiti-covered blue garage doors and yellow brick walls, residential blocks behind, Stokes Croft, Bristol
Sunny alley in Stokes Croft with graffiti wall, concrete bollards and residential tower blocks above, Bristol
Large BRISTOL lettering painted on the ground in a city centre square, colourful street art design surrounding it
Graffiti-covered stairwell door and brick wall on the rooftop of a Bristol multi-storey car park
Wet rooftop deck of a Bristol multi-storey car park, graffiti stairwell kiosk and city skyline beyond
Car park rooftop with graffiti-covered door and coloured parking markings on red tarmac, Bristol
Graffiti-covered stairwell kiosk with CCTV pole on a Bristol car park rooftop, cityscape visible beyond
Wide rooftop view of graffiti-covered stairwell kiosk, orange pedestrian lane and Bristol skyline beyond
Graffiti-layered stairwell door on Bristol multi-storey car park roof, city rooftops visible to the right
Stairwell door covered in graffiti tags on Bristol multi-storey car park, 'TOT $ TONE' written above
Abandoned supermarket trolley in a graffiti-tagged concrete underpass, staircase and railings behind, Bristol
Cobbled back alley with graffiti-covered walls on both sides and a dark archway ahead, Stokes Croft, Bristol
'True Love' event poster on a sticker-covered column beside blue wooden pallets, Stokes Croft, Bristol
Looking down into the open void of a multi-storey car park from the roof, rain puddles on grey concrete, Bristol
Empty car park interior with 'Have you paid' and 'Caution Pedestrians' signs, red floor and blue railings, Bristol
Red corrugated garage shutter covered in graffiti tags, no-parking sign above, Stokes Croft back street, Bristol
Brutalist concrete car park framed by ivy-clad trees, colourful cyclist graffiti mural at street level, Bristol
Old stone wall with plants cascading from a broken window beside a large paste-up face mural, Stokes Croft
Wide graffiti-covered garage facade with yellow painted brickwork, Stokes Croft, Bristol
Black bucket hanging from a standpipe on a densely layered graffiti wall, back street Bristol
Fly-tipped burned rubbish and wooden pallets against graffiti walls and gig posters, Stokes Croft, Bristol
Cobbled alley lined with large colourful graffiti murals and paste-up artworks, Stokes Croft, Bristol
Wooden pallets and burned debris against a Stokes Croft wall of gig posters and layered graffiti, Bristol
Ruined stone building with boarded windows, a 'HELP' paste-up and large face mural, ivy growing through, Bristol
Bicycle leaning against a graffiti roller shutter and sticker-covered doorway, gig posters alongside, Stokes Croft
Large paste-up face mural on an old stone wall with cascading plants and graffiti tags, Bristol
Metal bike barriers with 'Turbo Superb' graffiti on a sticker-covered electrical box and gig posters, Stokes Croft