Parrot mural by Curtis Hylton for Upfest 2022, Jan’s Barber, East Street, Bedminster, Bristol, England

Artwork FileBristol · England

Gone2024

• #CurtisHylton
• #Upfest2022
• #Upfest
• #Bristol
• #Bedminster
• #EastStreet
• #ParrotMural
• #BirdMural

A parrot taller than two storeys spread over the side of Jan’s Barber on East Street in Bedminster, south Bristol, its feathers built from yellow, orange and peach petals and its eye set in a rose. Curtis Hylton painted it in May 2022, one of the big walls finished before the Upfest 2022 weekend of 28 and 29 May. It did not last long: the newest dated photo of the parrot we found is from 2 November 2022, and by the summer of 2024 Ricky Also’s “Better Things” lettering covered the same wall for Upfest Presents 2024.

💡 4 things to know

1. One of the early Upfest 2022 wallsUpfest 2022 ran its murals across May and ended with the festival weekend of 28 and 29 May. Inspiring City: “Big walls from the likes of Sophie Mess at the Tobacco Factory, Epod on the Redpoint Climbing Centre, Aches on North Street and Curtis Hylton on East Street were amongst a whole load completed before the main weekend’s festivities.” A Flickr photo shows the parrot finished on 22 May 2022. Inspiring City, 2022 · Flickr, 22 May 2022
2. Flowers for feathersThe head and body are made of overlapping petals, with a pale rose for the eye, as the dated photos show. Inspiring City on the artist: “His style blends elements of the natural world together often mixing both flora and fauna.” Inspiring City, 2022 · Flickr, Loco Steve
3. Not his first Upfest wallIn June 2019 Hylton painted the feathers and roses around My Dog Sighs’s giant eyes on the Rising Sun pub on Windmill Hill, the first wall of the Upfest Summer Editions, and in 2021 he painted a house on Chessel Street for Upfest’s 75 walls project. Inspiring City’s 2022 post says he made Upfest murals in “2020 and 2021”, but the article it links for 2020 is dated June 2019. Inspiring City, 2019 · Inspiring City, 2021
4. Painted over for Upfest Presents 2024Inspiring City’s Upfest Presents 2024 round-up lists “Ricky Also – Jan’s Barbers, East Street”: “Painted across the popular wall of Jan’s Barber’s.” Its photo shows the big “Better Things” letters where the parrot was. A Flickr photo from 1 February 2026 shows Ricky Also’s wall still there. Inspiring City, 2024 · Flickr, Feb 2026

📍 Check-in guide

🗓️ Sightings

1. 202222 May

   Flickr photo

2. 202224 May

   Flickr photo

3. 202229 May

   Inspiring City report

4. 202231 May

   Flickr photo

5. 20222 Nov

   Flickr photo

6. 202425 Aug

   Painted over by Ricky Also

7. 20261 Feb

   Ricky Also’s wall

Every stamp links to the dated source. Green stamps are Flickr photos of the parrot with a recorded camera date: by diz2012 (22 May 2022), Loco Steve (24 May 2022; his caption says he took his photos on 23 May), Paul Chibeba (31 May 2022) and Huw Thomas (2 November 2022). The amber stamp is Inspiring City’s Upfest 2022 report, published 29 May 2022; it says the writer visited on 22, 28 and 29 May. The red stamps show the wall after the parrot: Inspiring City’s Upfest Presents 2024 round-up, published 25 August 2024, whose photo of Ricky Also’s wall has a file name dated 19 June 2024, and a Flickr photo by blackbike35 taken 1 February 2026. We found no dated photo between November 2022 and June 2024, so we cannot say exactly when the parrot was painted over.

📰 On the record

✅ The facts

Artist

Curtis Hylton (Inspiring City, Flickr, Loco Steve, Flickr, diz2012, Flickr, Paul Chibeba) Checked

Title

We found no official title. Inspiring City’s caption calls it “Parrot by Curtis Hylton on East Street” and Loco Steve’s photo is titled “Parrot by Curtis Hylton” (Inspiring City, Flickr) Unconfirmed

Made

May 2022, finished before the Upfest 2022 weekend of 28 and 29 May (Inspiring City); a photo with the camera date 22 May 2022 shows it complete (Flickr, diz2012) Checked

Festival

Upfest 2022, Bristol (Inspiring City, Flickr, Loco Steve) Checked

The work

A parrot facing right, head and body made of yellow, orange and peach petals, a rose around the eye, a curved white beak and blue-green tail feathers, painted over most of the side wall of a three-storey building, with floating leaves around it (Flickr, Loco Steve, Flickr, Paul Chibeba) Checked

Place

Side wall of Jan’s Barber, East Street, Bedminster, Bristol (Inspiring City; the shop sign is in the dated photos) Checked. Address 135 East St, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4EJ, according to Loco Steve (Flickr) Reported

Earlier walls

Inspiring City’s 2022 post says Hylton made Upfest murals in “2020 and 2021”. The article it links for 2020 is dated 22 June 2019 (the Rising Sun pub wall with My Dog Sighs, for the Upfest Summer Editions), and the same 2022 post says the 2020 festival “didn’t work out” because of the pandemic. The 2021 wall is on Chessel Street (Inspiring City, 2022, 2019, 2021) Conflicting. We lean towards 2019 and 2021.

Our photo

Loco Steve’s Flickr photo, camera date 24 May 2022 (the photographer’s caption says 23 May), shared under CC BY-SA 2.0. It shows the same parrot and Jan’s Barber sign as the other dated photos (Flickr, Flickr, Paul Chibeba) Checked. We cropped off the photographer’s frame.

Status

Gone 2024: painted over by Ricky Also’s “Better Things” for Upfest Presents 2024, reported on 25 August 2024 and still on the wall in a photo taken 1 February 2026 (Inspiring City, 2024, Flickr, blackbike35) Checked. The last dated photo of the parrot we found was taken on 2 November 2022 (Flickr, Huw Thomas); the exact date it went is not known Unconfirmed

🔗 Related

• On Street Art Utopia: The Easiest Birdwatching You’ll Ever Do (12 Photos) (11 October 2026), where the parrot appears as work no. 8.
• More of the artist’s birds and flowers on Street Art Utopia: In Love with Nature – 10 Artworks by Curtis Hylton.
• Hylton and My Dog Sighs’s giant eyes on the Rising Sun pub, Windmill Hill, 2019. Inspiring City
• Curtis Hylton on Instagram. @curtis_hylton

All sources (10)

This work

• Inspiring City: “Murals of Bristol’s 2022 Upfest Street Art Festival”, 29 May 2022. “Curtis Hylton – Jans Barbers, East Street”, the parrot, finished before the 28–29 May weekend, “2020 and 2021”.
• Inspiring City: “Upfest Presents 2024: All the Street Art and Murals”, 25 August 2024. “Ricky Also – Jan’s Barbers, East Street”, “Better Things”; photo of the repainted wall.

Dated photos

• Flickr: “Britol Street Art 13”, diz2012, described “Curtis Hylton”, taken 22 May 2022.
• Flickr: “Parrot by Curtis Hylton : Bristol Upfest 2022”, Loco Steve, camera date 24 May 2022 (the photographer’s caption says 23 May), CC BY-SA 2.0. The photo at the top of this page.
• Flickr: “Street art on East Street in Bedminster, Bristol (artist: Curtis Hylton)”, Paul Chibeba, taken 31 May 2022.
• Flickr: “parrots Bedminster”, Huw Thomas, taken 2 November 2022.
• Flickr: “Bristol East Street Bedminster Ricky ALSO”, blackbike35, taken 1 February 2026. Ricky Also’s wall in place of the parrot.

Context

• Inspiring City: “My Dog Sighs and Curtis Hylton create giant mural on Windmill Hill in Bristol”, 22 June 2019. First wall of the Upfest Summer Editions.
• Inspiring City: “75 Walls painted in Bristol over 75 Days for Upfest 2021”, 23 August 2021. “Curtis Hylton – Chessel Street”.
• Curtis Hylton on Instagram, the artist’s account, linked by Inspiring City from its 2022 entry.

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