Published by Reuters investigation Starring Simon Gardner, James Pearson and Blake Morrison, the film revolves around the identity of Banksy, an unknown street artist whose mystery the media has been trying to unravel for several decades. It turns out that in 2008, the Mail on Sunday gave him the correct name: Robin Gunningham, a Bristol native. However, around this time, Gunningham became concerned about altering his documents and adopted a name very common in Britain: David Jones. We tell you how journalists managed to find out.
Reuters began investigating Banksy when the artist created several works in Ukraine in 2022. Journalists wanted to understand exactly how he got there at the height of the war. They spoke to “dozens” of sources close to Banksy, but none revealed the artist’s identity – although many shared details about his life and career.
When Reuters had a convincing theory about Banksy’s real name, they contacted him and asked for an interview. He didn’t answer. The artist’s lawyer, Mark Stevens, in an interview with journalists, did not confirm the validity of their conclusions, but requested that the investigation not be published. Stevens confirmed that anonymity poses a danger to Banksy, because the artist has been receiving threats for years (the lawyer did not specify the type of threats).
The authors of the investigation express a reservation: they realize how important anonymity is for Banksy himself, for his creative strategy and for his fans. However, they believe that the artist is too influential for the privacy principle to apply in his case. “People and organizations that want to shape social and political discourse are subject to scrutiny, accountability, and sometimes exposure,” the journalists wrote.
Reuters cites the opinions of some street artists who believe that Banksy is a distinctive figure in street art: he is supposedly allowed to do things that others are not allowed to do. In September 2025, the artist painted on the wall of the Royal Courts of Justice in London; The building has protected status, graffiti is illegal, and authorities have launched an investigation. But as Reuters points out, no legal consequences have been reported for the artist since then.
Since the media has been trying to uncover Banksy’s identity for decades, journalists have had many “suspects” from the beginning. They include French street artist Thierry Guetta, also known as Mr Brain Wash, massive attack singer Robert Del Naia, also known as street artist 3D, and Bristol resident Robin Gunningham. The authors of the investigation went to the village of Gorenka, Kiev region, hoping that local residents would recognize one of these people. This did not happen.
But journalists found out that three men came to Gorenka at that time: two of them worked on the drawing, and the third accompanied them. He turned out to be easy to identify: famous war photographer Giles Dooley, who lost an arm and both legs in Afghanistan (Banksy publicly thanked him for his help with the Ukrainian project).
The investigation soon learned from “people familiar with Ukrainian immigration procedures” that Massive Attack’s Del Naia was also visiting Ukraine at the time, and that he and Dooley entered the country via Poland at the same place on the same day – October 28, 2022. Only the name of their third companion was known.
Journalists found evidence in the book “The Banksy Family” by Steve Lazarides, Banksy’s publisher, photographer, and former manager. Lazaridis describes an incident when the NYPD arrested Banksy while he was painting a billboard on the roof of a building.
After carefully studying the photo of the unfinished work, the authors of the investigation found out not only the title, but also the approximate time of its creation – September 2000. They were able to find materials related to the case of the street artist detained at this address during this period of time, including a confession of guilt that he wrote in his own handwriting. The detainee’s name was Robin Gunningham.
The case file included Gunningham’s address in New York: the Carlton Arms Hotel, which offered artists free accommodation in exchange for painting the room. Among other things, there is also a room painted by Banksy – or rather Robin Banks: this was the artist’s pseudonym in 2000. Robin Banks is a play on words: the name sounds like robbin’ banks, which means “robbing banks”.
In itself, the discovery didn’t mean much: in 2008, the Mail on Sunday wrote that Banksy was Robin Gunningham, a Bristol artist born in 1973. The problem was that in 2022, someone called Gunningham had definitely not entered Ukraine.
At this point, Steve Lazarides helped reporters again: he told Reuters that Robin Gunningham “doesn’t exist.” Also in 2008, when the Mail on Sunday de-identified Banksy, Lazaridis stopped collaborating with the artist. Among the last services he provided was assistance with a name change. The manager added that there is no play on words or any other hidden meaning in the artist’s new name: it’s just a different name and that’s it.
Reuters was able to create this new name by studying documents in the public domain. This appears in some property records, and in company records kept by Banksy’s former accountant. The journalists did not publish these documents so as not to reveal the artist’s address and other personal data. However, they did come up with a name: the man known as Banksy is today called David Jones. This choice seems to be explained by the plot: this is a very common combination; In 2017, for example, there were 6,000 David Jones children in the UK.
In October 2022, there was no Robin Gunningham in Ukraine, but there was David Jones. He entered the country at the same place and on the same day as Robert Del Naia and Giles Dooley.