Over the years numerous candidates have been put forward as the real Banksy, including Robert (“3D”) Del Naja, an artist and front person for the band Massive Attack; Bristol artist Robin Gunningham; a man named Robin Banks; and even a collective of artists led by an unnamed blond woman. In 2026 Reuters published an investigation that seemingly reconciled many of these claims. Drawing on police records, travel documents, and interviews, a team of journalists asserted that Banksy is in fact Gunningham, who they believe legally changed his name about 2008 to David Jones, one of the most common names in Britain. In addition, Reuters suggested that, based on travel records, Jones worked with Del Naja in 2022 on several murals attributed to Banksy in areas of Ukraine damaged during the Russia-Ukraine War.
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