Artist Gareth Fuller draws tourist map of Pyongyang

A British artist who hand-draws maps of cities has turned his attentions to the North Korean capital Pyongyang.

Gareth Fuller said the "intricately detailed hand-drawn panorama" was made after walking in "as much of Pyongyang as is possible for a tourist".

North Korea is one of the world's most secretive societies and one of the few countries still under communist rule.

Mr Fuller said he wanted to "pull back the curtain on a city so routinely shrouded in mystery".

The artist, who is based in Bristol, said as a foreigner he was accompanied by North Korean guides at all times and described Pyongyang as "one of the most-discussed but least-visited cities on Earth".

"Unlike ordinary maps, my monochrome works are fairly useless for navigation and better for capturing a sense of place, and to understand the chaos in my mind.

"Hopefully Tourist Map Of Pyongyang encourages pause for thought, and a consideration of the city, minus the headlines, but with a view to its culture and people," Mr Fuller said.

Mr Fuller, who was previously known as Gareth Wood, said the "limited freedom to explore" turned his usual way of working "upside down". He has previously created similar hand-drawn maps of London and Bristol, and more recently Beijing.

"Typically my process begins with unbridled exploration without boundaries or borders. North Korea's capital proved to be the opposite experience.

"Scheduled and tightly planned, I would walk well-trodden routes as I was invited to marvel, like the tourists before me, at the socialist wonderland."

Speaking about why he chose to include the city's ice rink, he said: "This eccentric brutalist building is a particular favourite of mine.

"It stands to attention on a flat open space, like a lost shuttlecock from the stadium next door."