Cheeky. Today BBC News covered Banksy’s alternative guerilla attack on Israel’s ‘security fence’ (see Art prankster sprays Israeli wall). Along various sections of the fence, Banksy’s trip to the ‘ultimate activity holiday destination for graffiti writers’ has punctured the fence with:
- An Alpine view from a lounge and Idyllic scenery showing through holes at Bethlehem
- ‘A ladder, ‘cut along’ dotted lines and a girl held aloft by balloons in Abu Dis
- And a horse.
At one point Banksy was threatened by Israeli soldiers as warning shots were fired into the air…Ali joked that ‘imagine if i did that…they woulda defo shot me dead lol’.
Perhaps this is the form of non-violent Jihad we need in the Islamic world – combating the tyrranical stupidity of Israeli occupiers with the message that the souls of men cannot be crushed with tanks and bombs. Banksy’s Balloon Girl image pictured here simultaneously expresses a poignant yearning for freedom coupled with a playful ‘f*ck you – we’re better than this’ message to the occupiers. Art can lift the souls of the oppressed and motivate activism more than any suicide bomber.
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Banksy’s website relates a hilarious exchange with a Ramallah local – You paint the wall, you make it look beautiful – Thanks – We don’t want it to be beautiful, we hate this wall, go home. Priceless.
(Incidentally, Artsy’s artist page for Banksy is pretty good…)
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