Can street art be used to stir consciences ? For some years the artist known as Banksy seems to have found the answer to this question. The British’s graffiti and murals leave no one indifferent and have already become true icons.
Through themes such as child labor, militarism, war or rampant consumption, Banksy criticizes current society and politics that have even been exhibited in museums.
In 2010 Time magazine included Banksy in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Of course, in the official photo of her the artist appeared with a paper bag on his head. Because despite the fact that his works have given him worldwide fame, Banksy has not renounced his anonymity.
However, for some time there has been speculation that Robert del Naja, a member of the British group Massive Attack, is behind the artist. This is because the appearance of the murals around the world coincides with the dates of the band’s concerts at those sites. And last but not least, a few months ago DJ Goldie, a friend of Del Naja’s, made the mistake of referring to Banksy as “Robert”. What are Banksy’s most famous graffitis?It is clear that one of Banksy ‘s best-known graffiti is that of the girl who flies with her balloons and almost passes the concrete wall with them. This stamp would not have anything special if it were not for the fact that it is painted on the wall that separates the West Bank from Israel . Banksy has made it clear on more than one occasion that for him this wall is the largest open-air prison in the world.
And it is that in his eagerness to turn the wall of the West Bank into a true art gallery , Banksy has plagued it with controversial works that give food for thought. One of them is the one made near Qalandia and shows a child playing on the other side of the wall with a bucket and a beach shovel. Nothing to do with the reality that minors live in the West Bank.
Children are the protagonists of many of Banksy’s works. Another of the most recognized drawings of the street artist is the one he did in Bethlehem and that shows a girl frisking a soldier , and not the other way around.
But Banksy’s work goes beyond the situation of repression in the Palestinian Territories. One of the latest and most popular drawings by the graffiti artist is the one he made about Brexit in Dover, the British city that connects the United Kingdom with Calais (France). The mural shows a worker removing one of the twelve golden stars from the flag of the European Union with a pick.One of the many murals by the artist that populate Bristol, the supposed home of Banksy, is the famous ‘naked man’ . The peculiarity of the work, in which a woman’s lover appears hanging from a window, is that it is made on the façade of a family planning center. The drawing is so popular that the town council, after a popular consultation, decided that it would not delete it.
In Bristol you can also find one of his latest and most viral works: mobile lovers . A far from subtle reference to how technology is gradually taking over our lives.
A Banksy classic is the one he painted in Brighton and in which two policemen kissing appear. In this way the artist seems to wonder who has the authority to decide what is love and what is not.
Frustrated idealism is another recurring theme in Banksy’s work . And this is demonstrated in this famous graffiti painted in Boston, in which an employee crosses out the symbolic phrase ‘follow your dreams’ (pursue your dreams).