(London) A goat, elephants, and now monkeys… Banksy is not known for his prolific work, but the mysterious graffiti artist revealed his third work in three days in London on Wednesday, sparking speculation about their message.
Criticism of the far-right riots in the UK? Support for the Palestinians? Or a reference to global warming, or even the Olympics?
The street artist gave no explanation when he claimed, as usual, his works on Instagram, with surprising frequency while his publications are most often spaced several months apart.
On Monday, a goat appeared perched on a pipe on a wall in Richmond, west London, under the eye of a CCTV camera.
PHOTO TOBY MELVILLE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
On Tuesday, it was two elephants poking their heads out of two boarded-up windows on a facade in the affluent Chelsea neighborhood.
PHOTO MINA KIM, REUTERS ARCHIVES
And on Wednesday, three monkeys appeared to be swinging from a railway bridge in Shoreditch, in the east of the capital.
“Banksy is trying to make us think about the ecological crisis,” says Fawaz Gerges, an academic who came to observe this latest work, interviewed by AFP.
He notes the presence of nature as a theme at the heart of his latest works, whether it is these animals or the tree painted a few months ago in north London.
He sees it as “a message of love for humanity” and “an antidote to hatred”, crucial in a context of “destructive right-wing extremism”.
The United Kingdom has been rocked for a week by far-right riots, with violence targeting hotels housing migrants and mosques.
Banksy, whose identity remains unknown but whose works fetch enormous prices, has repeatedly advocated for refugees.
In June, he claimed responsibility for a performance at the English Glastonbury festival, where an inflatable boat with mannequins wearing life jackets on it was carried by the crowd.
In a rare move, he spoke out about the work, denouncing on Instagram as “going too far” criticism from the then Conservative Home Secretary, James Cleverly.
Among the spectators of the works of the last days, some suggested a link with the war in Gaza, the goat reminding them of a species of gazelle common in the Middle East and sometimes called “Palestine gazelle” in English. Others mentioned the current Olympic Games.
Delighted, Daniel Lloyd-Morgan, 60, hopes to see Banksy continue his winning ways: “I predict that tomorrow he will be painting four animals somewhere in London.”