Banksy unmasked? Scientists use maths to hunt for identity of elusive street artist
Scientists have applied a type of modelling used to track down criminals or map disease outbreaks to identify the graffiti artist, whose real name has never been confirmed
Elusive street artist Banksy may have been unmasked – by mathematics.
Scientists have applied a type of modelling used to track down criminals and map disease outbreaks to identify the graffiti artist, whose real name has never been confirmed.
The technique, known as geographic profiling, is used by police forces to narrow down lists of suspects by calculating from multiple crime sites where the offender most likely lives.
The researchers used the location of 140 Banksy artworks in London and Bristol, western England. Writing in the Journal of Spatial Science, they said the artworks “are associated with sites linked to one prominent candidate” – Robin Gunningham, previously named in media reports as Banksy.
They said the study is not conclusive but “does provide some support for the theory that he is Banksy”.