God Bless Birmingham

God Bless Birmingham was created by Banksy, to raise awareness of homelessness. Banksy's Instagram account released a video, showing a homeless man called Ryan settling down for the night. The reindeer art on the wall made it look like he was being pulled, like Santa.

A few hours after it was released into the wild, so to speak, a vandal sprayed a couple of red noses on the reindeer. The artwork was covered by perspex to protect it.

For more information about the original piece, please click here.

On the 17th December 2025, people woke to find that the bench seat was now occupied by a Father Christmas manikin in a sleeping bag, reading a newspaper. There was a QR code on the cardboard he was lying on, and a larger one on a poster on the adjacent bus stop. The code was a link to a charity raising money to help a local homeless charity, SIFA Fireside.

This temporary addition was by Dion Kitson. The artwork was part of a collaboration between Ikon gallery, the Jewellery Quarter Development Trust (JQDT), Birmingham City University, and Mr Kitson.

For more about the temporary artwork, see here.