Free London Tour | An Alternative Street Tour

Some of you may have seen me recently post on my Instagram shots from my streetart tour in East London. This is one of my favourit parts of London as its just a gem, filled with creative creatures, artists from all walks of life; streetart, tattoo artists, graphics artists to jewellery and cloth designers. It's just and explosion of creativity you wish would rub off on you. 

With a weekend spare and some friends to entertain we set about on exploring this part of the capital by way of an alternative tour. This was with Alternative London Tours who run on the basis that you pay what you can. Okay, so its not exactly a free London Tour like the title suggests but it is still better priced than a lot of the expensive tours around the city. They were well worth the money as you don't just get a stop and stare at the art on show. Our tour guide took the time the time to reach out to the artists and get to know what the concepts and motivations were when the artists where making their mark on the walls all around Brick Lane and surrounding areas. Stik's simple doodles come to live when you are told of the subtle detail in how the eyes or the soft bend in the shoulder adds to the story each drawing of Stik's Stick male  and female drawings are trying to convey. In addition to how just how long some of these artist take add detail is not just for the sake of having pretty drawings but a way to make protest to world problems and issues we see in the news today. You only have to take the time to really exam the piece to see the real meaning behind them. Banksy is a good example of this but there a many more that use their artistic talent in protest of corruption, globalisation and many more issues that affect us all. In addition its just fascinating to learn about the technique used in creating some of the pieces, from how the paint cans are held to create a certain march or line to artist using mini explosives and stencils.

It's truely one of the best street art tours I have had in a long time, not to mention the tour guide is a street artist too so who better to really show you around the works of his fellow artists. Definitely a must-do whether you are a Londoner or a visitor plus East London is just such a vibrant place to hang out for the day.

Free London Tours, Free Tours London, London Walking Tours, Walking Tours

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