The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind at Depot Mayfield

Fans of the world-famous and still-anonymous street artist Banksy, gather round. Spring 2026 sees The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind take over Depot Mayfield, the first UK stop for a large-scale exhibition devoted to the artist’s imagery, influence and myth.

Let’s get this out of the way quickly: the show contains none of Banksy’s original work. In fairness, many pieces were never designed to survive the elements, the authorities, or the artist’s own disappearing acts. Banksy’s works now live in the public imagination as much as anywhere physical, and Depot Mayfield and COFO Exhibitions lean into this, creating something like a Banksy multiverse, built out of more than 200 recreated works charting his journey from Bristol graffiti ghost to global cultural disruptor. Think of it as Banksy by way of theme park: ambitious, immersive and knowingly larger than life.

You’ll get up close and personal with works like Girl with Balloon, which in 2018 became forever bound to the notorious shredding incident at Sotheby’s, and Devolved Parliament, his darkly comic take on British politics. It’s not all 2D works either; there’s a full-size London Underground carriage nodding to his lockdown-era escapades, plus a seven-foot elephant that channels his ongoing fascination with spectacle, environmental or otherwise. Embracing a tongue-in-cheek theatricality, the show isn’t “authentic” in the strictest sense, but then authenticity has always been something Banksy meets with a wry smile rather than reverence.

One thing that isn’t tongue-in-cheek is the exhibition’s partnership with The Christie Charity, which supports specialist cancer care, research and patient services. Proceeds will help fund a new Total Body PET-CT scanner, improving diagnostic accuracy and reducing waiting times – an unexpectedly grounded counterweight to the show, and one that brings Banksy’s spirit of social awareness together with a cause rooted firmly in the city.

Opening March 2026 at Depot Mayfield, The Mystery of Banksy might not offer the real deal, but it does offer something the real deal – transient, scattered and often wiped from existence – could never manage: an immersion in dozens of works from across the artist’s career, gathered in one place. Less an exhibition than a chance to step inside the mythology that helped turn a phantom graffiti artist into a global icon.