Banksy, the world’s most famous and controversial graffiti artist, has left his recognizable mark on the war in Ukraine. This was confirmed last week on his Instagram account, by assuming authorship of a piece in which a girl is seen doing a handstand on the ruins of a bombed-out building in Borodianka, a town 54 km from kyiv.
Six other works appeared in various parts of the country with the unmistakable style of the street artist, who, despite listing astronomical figures in the art market, maintains anonymity. According to the specialized newspaper The Art NewspaperBanksy has confirmed that they are also his authorship.
In one of them, an adult judo practitioner (probably Putin, who is a black belt in this martial art) is seen being knocked down by his opponent, a child. Children are in fact the protagonists of several of these street works, in a clear allusion to the fact that they are the ones who suffer the most from the consequences of war conflicts.
Another of the pieces turns a metal trap against tanks into a seesaw on which two children play. Two of them show girls practicing gymnastics on the ruins of devastated buildings.
In another one, a bearded man takes a bath, while a sixth shows a woman wearing curlers on her head, a gas mask and carrying a fire extinguisher.
A seventh piece takes advantage of a crude pre-existing painting of a penis, which he converts into a nuclear bomb mounted on an armored truck. A work that can be seen as an allegory of the excess of toxic masculinity that leads to wars.
