Colchester City Council announced on 19 March 2026 that the city of Colchester will host a major exhibition of art by Banksy at The Minories gallery in Essex. The event, titled Out of Line Banksy and the Art of Dissent, will feature 28 original pieces by the world-famous street artist and is designed to bring more visitors into the city centre to support local businesses.
A main highlight of the show is a piece called Rat with Drill, which will be shown to the public for the first time during the exhibition. Visitors will also be able to see two large-scale painted walls originally created in Nottingham (‘Hula Hoop Girl’) and ‘Sandcastle Boy’ (Lowestoft), alongside works from more than twenty other well-known street artists.
The city council supported the display with a grant to help the gallery bring the project to the local community. Organisers say the theme of rebellion fits well with the 2,000-year history of protest in the city, ranging from Roman times to the Civil War.
The majority of the art pieces have been lent by John Brandler of Brandler Galleries, which is based in Brentwood. As part of the event, a local children’s art competition, ‘Are You The Next Banksy?’, involved children painting their designs on recycled CDs for display in more than 25 shop windows across the city centre.
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