La Sincil Banksy: Zabou’s amazing mural starts Lincoln art project

A French artist is putting the finishing touches to a stunning spray painted mural on Kirkby Street in Lincoln, which is the first in a series of designs for The Sincil Bank Art Project.

The community art project aims to improve the aesthetic appeal of Sincil Bank and was created by Harry Conti and Adrian Bishop, who co-founded Student Housing. Harry was also one of The Lincolnite’s 30 Under 30 stars in 2019.

French artist Zabou was commissioned to do the mural labelled ‘Project 001’ and started work on it on Sunday, April 25. Similarly to Banksy, she keeps her full identity hidden and uses a face covering at all times in public.

The mural depicts Sir Isaac Newton looking through a prism and seeing the visible colours of the spectrum. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

French artist Zabou created and spray painted the mural on Kirkby Street. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The 30-year-old’s friend Jono modelled for the project, which is a mural of Sir Isaac Newton, who was born near Grantham and is looking through a prism and seeing the visible colours of the spectrum.

Zabou, who has done projects across the world, including in France, Italy, America and Indonesia, was putting on the finishing touches to the Lincoln mural on Thursday, April 29.

Incredible detail on the face. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Stand back and take a look at this stunning piece of artwork. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Harry Conti from Student Housing told The Lincolnite: “We wanted to do something for the residents of Sincil Bank.

“We have student lettings in the area and there is not much colour and we wanted to make the area more vibrant and turn Sincil Bank into more of a destination.

“Adrian looked at different artists and spotted some of Zabou’s worked and was floored by it. We thought if we can get someone with international recognition involved it would be great to get the ball rolling.

“I am blown away by the mural. I saw some of her work before and it is incredible and as the mural has progressed it’s got even better. This is the first mural and there will be more to follow.”

Adrian added: “I am floored by it. I couldn’t believe how detailed her work is and now seeing it in person and the scale of it adds an extra element of awe.”

After putting the finishing touches to the Lincoln mural Zabou, who has been a freelance artist in London for 10 years, is heading to Greece for her next project.

Zabou has created more than 200 artworks on four different continents and has a solo exhibition of her work set for later this year at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

Adrian Bishop and Harry Conti (left and right) launched the Sincil Bank Art Project, with the first mural created by French artist Zabou (centre). | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Finishing touches were being added to the mural on Thursday. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The mural is located on Kirkby Street in the Sincil Bank area of Lincoln. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

The Sincil Bank Art Project website will be launched by the end of the week for people to submit their ideas, as well as businesses to get involved and sponsor different artwork.