Walls with stories: the most captivating street art destinations around the world

In Downtown Los Angeles’s Arts District, what was once an industrial neighbourhood has, over the years, become a thriving art and creative neighbourhood. Former factories, warehouses and even garages now serve as urban canvases for an eclectic—and electric—mix of street art, murals and graffiti.

Home to artists who adapted the buildings in the area into studios and galleries, the LA Arts District’s raw urban edge is balanced by its cool-kid appeal. Here, large-scale masterpieces stand side by side with sticker bombing and playful tags. Make sure to look down at the pavement and pay attention to street poles for more street art, and don’t miss Colette Miller’s iconic Angel Wings, a symbol of Los Angeles that has since spread around the world.

Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig may be best known as Metro Manila’s sleek business and commercial centre, but its streets also double as an expansive open-air gallery. From the outset, the city was designed with walkability and public art in mind, with entire façades set aside for large-scale murals.

Today, you can stroll its wide sidewalks in search of the numerous street art that transformed tall skyscrapers and building blocks into canvases of artistic storytelling. From CYRCLE’s Between the Lines to recent additions like Ang Gerilya’s Tabi Tabi Po and Alvin Doodles’s whimsical odes to pets, BGC has proven it is committed to integrating art into the city’s glass-and-steel landscape.

Within Toronto’s fashion district sits Graffiti Alley—or Rush Lane—a kilometre-long stretch of walls bursting with colourful, ever-evolving street art. Once filled with random tags and graffiti, the three-block alley has been transformed into an authorised outdoor gallery, after the City of Toronto launched the StreetARToronto (StART) initiative to support public art.

Today, local street artists like Spud, Elicser Elliott and Uber5000 turn brick and concrete into sprawling canvases. Wandering through the alley is an immersive experience—less like viewing art on display, and more like stepping inside it.

What sets the street art in this Unesco World Heritage Site apart is that it incorporates three-dimensional objects—a motorcycle, a bicycle, a chair, swings, a basketball hoop—that you can interact with. If Graffiti Alley in Toronto feels like stepping inside the artwork, in George Town, you are a part of it.

The most iconic pieces were created by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, who painted them during the 2012 George Town Festival. His whimsical depictions of everyday Penang life—Children on a Bicycle, Boy on a Motorbike—quickly became cultural landmarks and were recently restored by Zacharevic. Other famous murals include local artist Louis Gan’s Brother and Sister on a Swing and Hoola Hoop Basketball.

The colourful murals in Kampong Gelam, Singapore’s historic Malay-Arab quarter, give the area its distinct personality, moving beyond mere eye candy or Instagram backdrops. They may brighten the walls of trendy boutiques, cafés, restaurants and bars, but they also serve a deeper purpose. Yip Yew Chong’s works, for instance, capture the stories, culture and history of Kampong Gelam, while other murals incorporate motifs that reflect the diverse communities converging and coexisting here.

Gelam Gallery, the city’s first outdoor art gallery, has transformed a once nondescript back alley into a vibrant showcase of graffiti, murals, installations and even framed artwork by artists from across the globe. Each piece is accompanied by art labels—similar to those found in traditional galleries—that offer visitors added context. Meanwhile, the Graffiti Hall of Fame—the first of its kind in Southeast Asia—turned a construction noise barrier into an open-air canvas alive with works by Singapore-based artists.

Once a gritty, industrial pocket of East London, Shoreditch has transformed into a bustling creative hub, where street art has evolved from rough graffiti tags into an open-air gallery of vibrant murals.

If Brick Lane is the heart of the neighbourhood (and where you’ll find the most recent Banksy artwork in London), the surrounding streets are its arteries, each pulsing with its own creative energy. Hanbury Street is home to Belgian artist Roa’s huge crane mural, Whitby Street bursts with the colourful dot portraits of Australian artist Jimmy C and Chance Street showcases striking works by Reka and MadC. Local artist Ben Eine’s bold typefaces can be found on Ebor Street, while on Rivington Street, you may stumble across a few pieces by the elusive and world-famous graffiti artist Banksy.

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