Who is Steve Lazarides?

Who is Steve Lazarides?

Steve Lazarides is a British photographer, gallerist, and art agent. Between 1997 and 2008 he was Banksy's closest collaborator — first as his photographer, then as his agent and dealer — and is the author of Banksy Captured, a two-volume photographic archive of those eleven years.

Based in London, Lazarides founded Lazarides Gallery (2006–2018) and continues to work as a publisher, curator, and photographer. His archive from the Banksy years is the primary visual record of that period.

What was Steve Lazarides's relationship with Banksy?

Steve met Banksy in Bristol in the late 1990s and began photographing his work. That documentation turned into an eleven-year working partnership: Steve became Banksy's photographer, agent, tour manager, and dealer during the years that defined the artist's global reputation.

He was the only person allowed to shoot behind the scenes — from the warehouse sessions and late-night street pieces to the major shows (Turf War, Barely Legal, the Bethlehem trips). Banksy Captured is what came out of that access: more than 10,000 photographs, most of which had never been published before the books.

Why did Lazarides and Banksy part ways?

Steve and Banksy parted professionally around 2008. Neither has ever given a detailed public account of why. Steve has characterised it in interviews as an amicable divergence after more than a decade of intense work together.

What followed: Steve kept the archive. He continued to run Lazarides Gallery until 2018, then began publishing Banksy Captured himself through AART SPACE. Those photographs are now the primary-source record cited in major press, including the Reuters investigation published in March 2026.

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For the long-form story, see Who is Steve Lazarides? in the Stories section. For questions about the book itself, see the FAQ. For the editions and formats, see editions.