Kobe Bryant: A basketball legend in street art
The recent death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant shocked sports fans the world over. Many artists have depicted him in murals in public spaces. Some have done so since his recent death in a helicopter crash.
Australia in mourning
In Australia, street artist Lush Sux responded to requests from several Kobe fans to pay his respects to the former shooting guard with a mural, which he painted on a wall in Melbourne. "It seems like people really respected him for his skills and his charity work," Sux explained.
Final game
This mural, appeared on the wall of a building on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles on the occasion of Bryant's final game for the Lakers, on April 13, 2016 in which he scored 60 points. Following his death, many fans came here to pay their respects to Kobe, who played 20 seasons for the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles artist Mister Alek started working on this mural shortly after Bryant's tragic death. It took him three days to complete the painting of his favorite player on the wall of a barber shop owned by one of his good friends.
Kobe Bryant
Fans in Los Angeles have been gathering outside the Staples Center and various other locations to express their grief. Here a couple of fans pay tribute to Kobe at a mural of the Lakers legend in downtown LA.
Kobe and Gigi
A number of murals show Kobe with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who was known to her friends as Gigi. She also died in the helicopter crash that claimed the life of her father.
'Forever Daddy's Girl'
Artists Muck Rock and Mr79lts captured a happy moment shared by Kobe and his daughter. Written to the right of the depiction of the two are the words: "Kobe - Gigi - Forever Daddy's Girl."
'Black Mamba'
This mural honoring Kobe and Gianna is on the wall of a sushi restaurant in Austin, Texas. It was created following their deaths by Texas-based artist Laced and Found with the help of Snuk One and Riki Loring. To their left are the words "Black Mamba," the nickname he had bestowed upon himself.
Personal dedication
Kobe Bryant also had a lot of fans in the Philippines, where basketball fans have also been in mourning since the superstar's untimely death. On this wall in Manila fans have been writing words of tribute to the late Laker.
Larger than life
Elsewhere in the Philippines, in Taguig City, an artist has been working on an oversized portrait of Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna on the floor of a basketball court.
United forever
A mural painted onto the floor of another Philippine basketball court, this time back in Manilla, depicts Kobe embracing daughter Gianna. Basketball was introduced to the Philippines during the American colonial period of the early 1900s and remains the country's most popular sport.
Italian connection
Here a boy plays with a basketball near a mural of Bryant on the wall of an underground train station in Naples, Italy. Kobe spent part of his childhood in Italy, when his father Joe was playing professional basketball there. It was during this time that Kobe became a fan of AC Milan. The club and its fans paid tribute to Bryant before Tuesday’s Italian Cup game against Torino at the San Siro.