Over the years there have been many theories on who is actually behind Banksy. In 2008, the Daily Mail claimed to have discovered who the unknown man behind the street art was. The publication said the elusive artist was Robin Gunningham, a man from Bristol born in 1973. But, even though they interviewed the man's parents and former roommates and provided photos, people weren't convinced.
Now eight years later, new academic research has apparently confirmed that Banksy is in fact Robin Gunningham. Scientists at Queen Mary University in London used a geographic profiling technique that is used to catch serial criminals to find a pattern between where Banksy's art was popping up and the location of Gunningham. The researchers selected 140 suspected works by the artist in London and Bristol to determine the artist's "hot spots." What they found was that the locations were all places where Gunningham lived in or frequented.
"I'd be surprised if it's not (Gunningham), even without our analysis, but it's interesting that the analysis offers additional support for it," Steve Le Comber, a coauthor of the report, told the BBC.
The results were published in the Journal of Spatial Science, even after Banksy's lawyers apparently expressed concerns over the study.Despite having scientific research to back up their claim, the validity of study is still questionable considering they were using suspected works by Banksy and focusing on just one suspect, but we could be closer to finding out who he really is.
