BANKSY CAPTURED

by Steve Lazarides

10,000 photographs from inside Banksy's world. Shot by the only man who was there. On film. Nothing staged. 1997–2008.

As cited by Reuters in their Banksy investigation, March 2026

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In March 2026, Reuters published its story titled “In search of Banksy”, claiming to have finally unearthed and revealed the elusive artist's true identity. A firestorm of media interest predictably followed.

Despite a lot of the claims relying on old and typically unproven speculation, what they did all share was the fact that these books were their primary source of reliable information.

Who he is may be interesting for a week.

What he did and how and when will last forever.

These books tell that story.

See the archive they cited →
Steve Lazarides — photographer, gallerist, agent

“He's like no other artist that ever existed. He infiltrated the general population and that's never really happened before.”

— Steve Lazarides
About Steve Lazarides →
01

The Photographer

Steve Lazarides tracked down a young graffiti artist from Bristol in 1997. Over the next eleven years he became Banksy's agent, photographer, and closest collaborator — documenting an anonymous artist at work across the globe.

02

The Insider

Warehouse painting sessions. Guerrilla installations. The moments in between that no one else saw. Lazarides was the only person in the inner circle with a camera.

03

The Archive

Steve took over 10,000 shots on film over 11 years, capturing the work in its proper context and environment. The works that are preserved here on film are now mainly lost or in private hands.

04

The Book

Banksy Captured is self-published. No filter. What Steve shot is what you hold. In March 2026, Reuters traced its investigation directly to this archive.

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As featured in:ReutersThe GuardianDaily MailBBCArtnet
As Featured In

What the press said

From Reuters investigations to BBC features — the story of this archive has reached the world.

R

Reuters

2026

Traced its breakthrough evidence chain to material inside Banksy Captured.
D

Daily Mail

2026

Independently confirmed the book as a primary source in the investigation.
T

The Guardian

A remarkable visual archive capturing the raw energy of Banksy’s early work.
A

Artnet News

2019

Lazarides’s 250-page book of photographs document the 11 years that the former dealer worked with Banksy as his agent, photographer, and right-hand man. The images lift the veil on the secrecy surrounding the elusive artist, offering a behind-the-scenes look at some of his famous works while they were being executed.
B

BBC News

2019

The photographs of Banksy at work, along with shots of some of his street art, are published in a new book by Mr Lazarides — Banksy Captured.
S

Sky News

2019

There’s a line in Goodfellas I love, which is like, they live like kings, but they had none of the responsibility. And that’s what this time was like. It was pure anarchy.
S

Sky News

2019

It really resonated with the times and it was interesting — and so much art is f***ing boring. The reason people liked it is because they could get it. He didn’t make people feel stupid. He resonated with people.
G

GraffitiStreet

Banksy Captured Vol. 1 is his visual confession: not a coffee-table celebration, but a brilliant memoir told in pictures.
G

GraffitiStreet

Every great cultural movement has its accidental archivist. For the birth of 21st-century street art, it was Steve Lazarides, Banksy’s friend, driver, fixer, photographer, and reluctant myth-builder.
G

GraffitiStreet

Before the galleries, before the auctions, before the anonymity became a brand, there was Bristol, rain-soaked, raw, and fiercely creative.
R

Reuters

2026

Traced its breakthrough evidence chain to material inside Banksy Captured.
D

Daily Mail

2026

Independently confirmed the book as a primary source in the investigation.
T

The Guardian

A remarkable visual archive capturing the raw energy of Banksy’s early work.
A

Artnet News

2019

Lazarides’s 250-page book of photographs document the 11 years that the former dealer worked with Banksy as his agent, photographer, and right-hand man. The images lift the veil on the secrecy surrounding the elusive artist, offering a behind-the-scenes look at some of his famous works while they were being executed.
B

BBC News

2019

The photographs of Banksy at work, along with shots of some of his street art, are published in a new book by Mr Lazarides — Banksy Captured.
S

Sky News

2019

There’s a line in Goodfellas I love, which is like, they live like kings, but they had none of the responsibility. And that’s what this time was like. It was pure anarchy.
S

Sky News

2019

It really resonated with the times and it was interesting — and so much art is f***ing boring. The reason people liked it is because they could get it. He didn’t make people feel stupid. He resonated with people.
G

GraffitiStreet

Banksy Captured Vol. 1 is his visual confession: not a coffee-table celebration, but a brilliant memoir told in pictures.
G

GraffitiStreet

Every great cultural movement has its accidental archivist. For the birth of 21st-century street art, it was Steve Lazarides, Banksy’s friend, driver, fixer, photographer, and reluctant myth-builder.
G

GraffitiStreet

Before the galleries, before the auctions, before the anonymity became a brand, there was Bristol, rain-soaked, raw, and fiercely creative.
G

GraffitiStreet

What makes Vol. 1 so intoxicating is its sense of accidental prophecy. Every frame carries the weight of future legend: the artist painting under bridges, hanging on fences, stencilling…
G

GraffitiStreet

If Banksy Captured Vol. 1 was the birth of rebellion, Banksy Captured Vol. 2 is its adolescence, swaggering, ambitious, and slightly hung-over from success.
G

GraffitiStreet

Lazarides’ prose remains dry, funny, and bruised by hindsight. He writes as a man who didn’t realise he was documenting history until the dust settled.
G

GraffitiStreet

Lazarides’ photographs frame this moment with cinematic clarity. You see the art not as object but as incident, blurred bus in motion, a passer-by half turned, the brief electric spark between illegal act and public apathy.
G

GraffitiStreet

These are the years when Banksy went from ghost to global myth, from walls and whispers to headlines and Hollywood. Yet, through Lazarides’ gritty narration and faultless timing, what emerges isn’t celebrity — it’s creation under siege.
J

Juxtapoz

Banksy Captured is the closest you get to a myth being revealed — every frame is a fleeting incident, not just a static object. The book is a piece of living history, bracingly unpolished.
G

GraffitiStreet

If you want a book that documents the gritty genesis of twenty-first-century street art, this is the one. Lazarides takes you behind the curtain, from rain-soaked bridges to shadowy studio spaces — raw, funny, and vital.
G

GraffitiStreet

Lazarides writes with bruised hindsight, blending nostalgia and dry humour. Banksy Captured isn’t just a photo book; it’s a memoir, an accidental time capsule of a scene as it exploded.
G

Goodreads

A book for those who want the truth about a movement, not its myth. Lazarides was there, camera in hand, with only a rough sense of how big it would become.
G

GraffitiStreet

What makes Vol. 1 so intoxicating is its sense of accidental prophecy. Every frame carries the weight of future legend: the artist painting under bridges, hanging on fences, stencilling…
G

GraffitiStreet

If Banksy Captured Vol. 1 was the birth of rebellion, Banksy Captured Vol. 2 is its adolescence, swaggering, ambitious, and slightly hung-over from success.
G

GraffitiStreet

Lazarides’ prose remains dry, funny, and bruised by hindsight. He writes as a man who didn’t realise he was documenting history until the dust settled.
G

GraffitiStreet

Lazarides’ photographs frame this moment with cinematic clarity. You see the art not as object but as incident, blurred bus in motion, a passer-by half turned, the brief electric spark between illegal act and public apathy.
G

GraffitiStreet

These are the years when Banksy went from ghost to global myth, from walls and whispers to headlines and Hollywood. Yet, through Lazarides’ gritty narration and faultless timing, what emerges isn’t celebrity — it’s creation under siege.
J

Juxtapoz

Banksy Captured is the closest you get to a myth being revealed — every frame is a fleeting incident, not just a static object. The book is a piece of living history, bracingly unpolished.
G

GraffitiStreet

If you want a book that documents the gritty genesis of twenty-first-century street art, this is the one. Lazarides takes you behind the curtain, from rain-soaked bridges to shadowy studio spaces — raw, funny, and vital.
G

GraffitiStreet

Lazarides writes with bruised hindsight, blending nostalgia and dry humour. Banksy Captured isn’t just a photo book; it’s a memoir, an accidental time capsule of a scene as it exploded.
G

Goodreads

A book for those who want the truth about a movement, not its myth. Lazarides was there, camera in hand, with only a rough sense of how big it would become.

These moments won't be shot again.

80% of Banksy's early work has been destroyed or locked away. The warehouse sessions, the 4am street pieces, the shows that changed everything — most of it exists only in Steve's archive now. This book is where it still lives.

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