French street artist Zabou at work on her Mural in Haggerston, London

Earlier this year while running for an early morning meeting in Haggerston, East London we spotted what looked like an artist making a start on a new large-scale mural. 

Zabou Haggerston Mural

The mural was in its initial stages with just larger blocks of colour on the wall and the artist was already busy at work on a ladder as we passed. 

We were running late for our meeting but stopped briefly to take a few quick pictures from the opposite side of the street before heading off. 

As this was earlier in the year the artist was still wrapped up in full winter gear and from the opposite side of the street, we weren’t able to identify who the street artists at work were. 

Later that evening we passed the wall again and from the progress, the artist had made during the day we were able to work out it was the work of street artist Zabou.

French street artist Zabou at work in the rain on her latest London mural

French street artist Zabou pictured above, at work on her mural in Haggerston, London.

Zabou is a London-based French street artist who moved to London back in 2012 and since then has been developing and perfecting her style she has become known for her large-scale portrait murals spray-painted on walls across London and beyond.

Re-visiting the Zabou Mural

Hoping to catch up with the artist we returned again to the mural to take additional photos but the rainy London weather was delaying work on the wall and there was no sign of the artist but some progress had been made on the mural. 

After 3 to 4 days of bad rainy weather, we returned to Orsman Road for the third time hoping to see the Zabou at work finishing the mural.

On arrival on Orsman Road, we bumped into two other artists Fipsi Seilern and Erin Holly who were painting a collaborative mural on the same street as Zabou. 

They had started working on their mural earlier that morning and mentioned to me I had just missed Zabou but she was planning to returned another day as she still had some work to do on her mural. 

We hung out with the two artists for the day photographing them as they worked on their portrait mural of Gluck (Hannah Gluckstein) for LGBTQ+ History Month

We would have to wait a little longer for Zabou to finish the work on her mural and for us it would be nearly two months before we were safely able to capture some final images of the completed mural work.

New London mural by French street artist Zabou

Work in progress images of street artist Zabou working on her mural.

Work In progress by French street artist Zabou in Haggerston London

French street artist Zabou at work on her Orsman Road London mural.

Zabou 'Good Vibes' London Mural

The completed mural by Zabou is located on Osrman Road on the side of the U7 Lounge and the artist has named the piece 'Good Vibes'.

According to Zabou she "wanted to create an artwork that is vibrant, colourful and celebrates jazz music (the venue host jazz events and there is a music school a few doors down). 

My model is Nubya Garcia, a talented saxophonist from London, and the image is based on a photo of her playing on stage taken by Peter Van Breukelen. The background features a mix of pinks (matching the windows of the building), oranges, and purples."

  Zabou - London Street Art Mural in Haggerston

The completed “Good Vibes” Zabou mural in Haggerston is halfway down Orsman Road.

Zabou - Good Vibes London Mural in Haggerston

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