Before street artist Banksy became a pop-culture phenomenon, he was just another artist using his talent to do what he does best – protest. Come to think of it, that’s what graffiti is mostly about, isn’t it? It’s not merely about what you draw or write – where you do it matters too. And he did it once again.
Banksy visited Gaza.
If you’ve kept yourself updated with pop-culture news and world events this last couple of years, you know how loaded with juice the above statement is. And he uploaded photos of his work on his site .
The first piece, inspired by Rodin’s ‘ The Thinker ‘, is aptly titled ‘Bomb Damage’.
And when you look at the placement, you see why it’s called that.
Seeing how the childhood has been stripped from the kids there, Banksy’s Gaza series is as political as it gets
But he’s not just critical of the Zionists, but also the media. Most of us on the Internet do not talk enough about Gaza or Palestine. Maybe he’s trying to lure us into the discussion with a kitten. Because, cats and Internet, you see.
And this is where he hits the nail on the head
This is what Banksy had to say about Gaza –
Gaza is often described as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ because no-one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons – they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost everyday.
Oh but how did Banksy manage to get into Gaza? Isn’t it impenetrable? Here’s how.
As a fan of Banksy, things like “who he is” and “what his actual name is” don’t matter to me. To come up with work such as this, you need a mask. The question should never be who’s behind it but why is it that he needs to use one.
This author thanks artists like Banksy who prove time and again that art and creativity are great tools for protest and raising awareness about different issues.
