Trafalgar Square is the tourist hub of London.
Home to the Landseer Lions, it fills each day with crowds of dozens upon dozens of travellers, ticking off this iconic landmark on their travel bucket lists.
Right on the front of the square lies the National Gallery, housing paintings by the most famous Western artists, from Michelangelo to Monet and Caravaggio to Van Gogh.
However, a different type of artist is celebrated just outside its doors.
Street performers add to the atmosphere of this busy locale, transforming its sound by overlaying the background bustle of chatter and movement with music and melody.
Passersby can constantly be seen walking hurriedly through the square, thoughts seemingly only on their destination read hastily from online maps, but street performances can change this.
Around these performers, crowds of people, pausing their journeys, stop and listen.
In a world where seemingly everything must be planned out in perfect itineraries, these street performances, like any around the world, are essential for their ability to make people stop and breathe.
Despite this, divided opinions remain around street performances.
These performers could be seen as incongruous with the neighbouring serious and dignified National Gallery.
Recently, with refurbishments blocking off exits and a new Van Gogh exhibit, lines for the gallery have been stretching all across the front and around the edge of the building at peak times just to enter, but watching street performances has always been free to experience, without endless queues.
These street performances, therefore, make art more accessible and entertain those waiting in lines to enter.
