6448. St Werburghs tunnel (451)

Every now and again, something very special appears on the walls of Bristol, without warning or fanfare, and when you find them they blow your socks off. This collaboration between Bristol artist Kosc and Tunbridge Wells-based artist Humor is one such collaboration.

The collaboration, I gather, celebrates the birthday of actor Jenna Ortega, who I must admit is a little bit off my radar, although I faintly recognise her from her Wednesday Addams character, and the 2021 film The Fallout looks like it might be worth watching. She clearly has a large fan base, which I assume would include Kosc and Humor. Kosc has painted a gorgeous piece of graffiti writing which picks up the colours used for the birthday candles.

I haven’t come across Humor’s work before, but this photorealistic portrait of Jenna Ortega is quite stunning, and something we don’t see nearly enough of in Bristol, outside of festivals or commissions.

On the day I originally photographed this collaboration, there was quite a lot of glare on the wall, it can be a difficult wall to photograph, because it gets impacted by shadows and sunlight at all times of the day. I did return on a duller day, and think I got a slightly better picture with less glare (and a few more autumn leaves on the ground). Stunning work, especially when you consider it is a greyscale portrait. I would love to think that this might be the first of many visits to Bristol by Humor, but I won’t be holding my breath.