A splash of colour is being added to London's streets as the UK's capital seeks to bounce back from the COVID-19 lockdown, with more than 150 artists from around the world painting murals across the city.

Organisers decided to go ahead with the festival, which will take place throughout September, in part as they believed it important to brighten up London, which was the epicentre of Britain's COVID-19 outbreak.  

Co-founder and CEO of Global Street Art and London Mural Festival, Lee Bofkin, said murals "encourage people to slow down, to have new conversations, to appreciate their environment a bit more, to get off their phone a little bit, or to share it on their phone but encourage other people to leave the house a bit."

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The murals are to be painted on private, public and residential property - with permission from homeowners - and organisers hope they will add to the city's rich history of street art, exemplified by London's numerous political murals by Banksy. 

London-native, Dean Stockton, better known by his street artist alias D*Face wants the art to remain in the capital for as long as possible. "It's public art, nothing's forever… Obviously when you paint in public you're exposed to the general public and whatever they choose to do with it, and also nature, so you've got the sun, the rain. And that brings about a certain beauty, which is like the natural weathering and aging, which I personally love."

Video editor: David Bamford