Steve Lazarides — photographer, gallerist, agent

Steve Lazarides

Photographer. Gallerist. Agent.

The only insider who kept a camera running

For eleven years, Steve Lazarides documented an anonymous artist who changed everything. As Banksy's agent, photographer, and closest collaborator, he was the only person allowed to shoot behind the scenes.

When their paths diverged, Lazarides was left with more than 10,000 photographs — an unprecedented visual record from inside the inner circle during the years that defined everything.

1997–2008

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

The Archive

When their paths diverged, Lazarides was left with more than 10,000 photographs: an unprecedented visual record from inside the inner circle during the years that defined everything.

10,000

photographs

11

years

2

volumes

600+

images

Why now?

In March 2026, Reuters published a major investigation — “In Search of Banksy” — that traced its breakthrough evidence chain directly to material inside Banksy Captured. The Daily Mail independently confirmed the book as a primary source.

Steve shot these photographs as documentation. He published them as a book. Now they've been used as evidence in a global news investigation. The archive's significance was always there — Reuters just confirmed it.

Key moments

Eleven years. One camera. The only photographic record from inside Banksy's inner circle.

1997
1997

The Meeting

Steve Lazarides meets a young graffiti artist from Bristol. He starts carrying a camera everywhere.

2000
2000

The Streets

Late-night painting sessions across the UK. Steve documents everything while working as Banksy's agent.

2003
2003

Going Global

LA, New York, Paris. Museum heists, bridge takeovers, the shows that changed the rules.

2008
2008

The Split

After eleven years as Banksy's closest collaborator, their paths diverge. Steve keeps the camera. And the archive.

2024
2024

The Book

10,000 photographs become Banksy Captured. Self-published. No publisher. No filter.

2026
2026

The Evidence

Reuters traces its 'In Search of Banksy' investigation to material inside this book. The archive becomes evidence.

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.

Read more

Who is Steve Lazarides?

The photographer, gallerist, and agent behind the archive.

Editions

Paperbacks, numbered hardcover, signed, and collection bundles.

The Reuters investigation

How Banksy Captured became a primary-source reference in 2026.

The complete Banksy Captured collection

Own the archive

Paperbacks from £50. Signed editions and the Limited Edition hardcover. Free UK shipping on orders over £100.

See the books