Art UK completes major digitisation programme of public murals across the UK

In November 2023, we awarded Art UK a grant of £60,000 towards their initiative to record, photograph and digitise 5,000 murals across the UK

Art UK has now completed this major national project, with the help of volunteers, recording more than 6,600 artworks, bringing the total number of outdoor public artworks on the Art UK website to over 21,000.

What it reveals

The project offers an unprecedented cultural snapshot of the UK’s public murals, ranging from medieval wall paintings to brand‑new street art. The findings reveal clear themes, including:

• 19% of the recorded murals are commemorative, reflecting national events, sporting triumphs, protest movements, and times of mourning
• Animals, which appear in 23% of the recorded murals, from domestic pets to much‑loved wildlife
• 11% reflect heritage and industry, recalling coal, steel, textiles and pottery industries, many of which have now gone, but which have defined specific regions of the UK
• Others cover nature, climate and societal cohesion – key concerns reflected in contemporary muralism

 © Karl Read. Image credit: Paul Francis / Art UK

The project highlights disparities and opportunities in representation. While murals still depict more named men than women, murals show far greater diversity than public sculpture, better representing individuals from the global majority, community leaders, activists, educators and local heroes.

The project has coincided with a major rise in muralism across the UK. Once a largely subversive, underground art form, street art is now widely commissioned by councils and business improvement districts to re‑energise town centres, support tourism and reduce graffiti tagging. Research has shown that murals can help create safer, more welcoming environments while stimulating the local economy. The number of UK street art festivals has also increased in recent years, and Art UK has been able to record many artworks created as part of these festivals, many of which have a limited lifetime.

While most of the murals recorded through the project were formally commissioned, the nature of street art means that not all works originate from commissions or organised festivals. Excluding all uncommissioned artworks would have excluded many striking and culturally significant artworks.

The digitisation programme captured artworks of all scales and mediums:

• The largest include a 16‑storey abstract mosaic in Gosport, Hampshire
• The smallest include a 50cm-high artwork of a man walking on a utility box in Aberdeen and a series of mini murals across five bollards in Shrewsbury
• The oldest are medieval church wall paintings cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust
• The newest are 2025 murals, some recorded as they were being painted

© Rogue-one. Image. credit: Gordon Baird /Art UK

How did they do it?

Murals were documented across every nation of the UK: from Kirkwall, Orkney in the north to Penzance, Cornwall in the south, Lowestoft in the east and County Fermanagh in the west. The project was made possible by Art UK’s Public Art Volunteer Network. Over two years, volunteers spent almost 5,500 hours  photographing murals in person.

The Programme set out to document 5,000 artworks but significantly exceeded its target. The project builds on Art UK’s award‑winning sculpture digitisation project and continues the charity’s mission to ensure publicly commissioned art is available to everyone online.

Katey Goodwin, Deputy Chief Executive & Director of Community Engagement, Art UK, said: ‘This project captures a remarkable moment in time. Public murals reflect who we are, our heritage, our concerns, our humour and our creativity. Thanks to our volunteers and our funders, we now have a lasting public record of works that are often fleeting, and sometimes under threat.

 

Scotty Irving, mural artist, Brave Arts, said: ‘One of the reasons I am a street artist is because I want to share with the world the value art can have by just being in public. Street art connects people to true stories. Just this week I was painting a new mural and a local school passed by in a big group, on foot. The kids were buzzing and the teacher immediately used it as a live lesson, gathering the children and encouraging their interests. By that evening, through social media, they were already aware of Art UK’s free resources. This project isn’t just an archive; it’s a tangible bridge between the artist on the street and the next generation in the classroom, making our craft accessible to everyone, everywhere.’

Find out more about our Preservation and Conservation grant programme.

Feature image: © Gillian Ramsay. Image credit: Gordon Baird /Art UK