Painting the streets of Leeds

As a Leeds local, I wanted to use the lockdown as an opportunity to brighten up the streets of Meanwood.

I’ve been into graffiti art since I was in school, it’s something that I have always felt extremely passionate about, but unfortunately, it’s often illegal in public places and it used to get me into a lot of trouble.

So I turned to tattoo art! Focusing most of my energy on it during the 2020 lockdowns, creating my own designs and promoting my art on Instagram. But for obvious reasons I couldn’t go out and tattoo someone.

This was around when I decided to turn the lockdown into an opportunity to get into a lot of creative projects – including work up at Chapel Allerton and around Meanwood thanks to the Meanwood Street Art Project.

I messaged the organisers on Facebook and began coming up with lots of both creative and meaningful designs!

As things started going, my work gained more recognition and the project got busier and busier. It’s led to a more productive lockdown than I originally anticipated and in turn a boost of popularity to my tattoo art.

Since I began taking part in the project during January, using my tag Cortisol Kid, and it’s taken off more than I could have ever imagined!