People / My Bristol Favourites
My Bristol Favourites: Jody Thomas
Jody gained worldwide acclaim earlier this year following his four-storey high mural of climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg on the side of the Tobacco Factory.
The artist and designer began painting in 1988 at the Barton Hill Youth Club and has exhibited across the world. His work takes inspiration from fashion and film and takes a strong, graphic and noirish take on photorealistic portraits.
Greta Thunberg herself changed her Instagram profile image to Jody’s mural of her on North Street
Here are Jody’s top-five Bristol favourites:
is needed now More than ever
Bristol Museum
“I absolutely love Bristol Museum. Growing up as a kid, my dad would take me there. I remember Alfred and the gypsy caravan. I just think the museum is such a memorable place.”
Barton Hill Youth Club
“The guys that ran it were amazing. I used to paint here all the time. In around 1988, I went down as a very scared 15-year-old with my GCSE art folder. Being able to meet Inkie, Cheo, all the Bristol luminaries. I bumped into Banksy a couple of times. It was graffiti; not street art. It was underground. A lot of people disliked it but it really was the place where it all started.”
Vegetarian and vegan food
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3C1bQghXqE/
“Oowee V on Baldwin Street is a really good spot if you want some vegan filth. Koocha on Zetland Road is a really good place as well. A really good plant-based selection and really nice people.”
The White Lion terrace
Photo courtesy of Visit Bristol
“I don’t drink but if anyone ever comes to visit Bristol, this is the first place I take them. It’s just the best place to see the best view of the Suspension Bridge. Nobody can ever cease to be amazed by that view.”
Snuff Mills
“I used to fish here as a kid from when I was 12 or 13. It’s the only place where I have ever seen a kingfisher. It’s so unspoiled and hidden.”
Read more: Millennium Square street art draws attention to plastic pollution
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