Photo by Banksy
In 1967, in Washington DC, a peace protester named George Harris came up against a soldier of the 503rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne), who was part of the corps blocking an anti-Vietnam War march to the Pentagon. Harris’s response was to place a carnation into the barrel of the M14 rifle held by the soldier. A Washington Star photographer, Bernie Boston, captured this simple act (later the subject of a crass pastiche by Pepsi, recruiting Kendall Jenner as the protester of gentle soul) and his picture became one of the defining images of the Flower Power movement: it was nominated for the 1967 Pulitzer Prize.
Banksy, the Scarlet Pimpernel of graffiti artists, has always worked in the spirit of Boston’s photograph. His whimsical and humorous sallies against the malevolence of the world include a masked protester hurling a bouquet of flowers in place of a brick or Molotov cocktail, a young girl letting go of a slip a heart-shaped balloon, and Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz having her basket searched by a military policeman. The message has long been a neat binary – the non-violent resistance or stoicism of the innocent in the face of the heavy-handedness of the state or the travails of modern life.
Banksy, whose identity has never been confirmed (though it is often claimed that he is a Bristolian named Robin Gunningham) has long proved a remarkably gifted graphic artist. He has juggled a series of motifs, from children and policemen to rats and monkeys, to convey simple ideas and delivered them with wit and imagination. He is not a fine artist: his messages are to be consumed in quick takes and prolonged examination of his murals reveals no secondary or deeper meanings.
His latest picture, however, has taken a dark turn. In a mural sprayed onto the wall of the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand in London, his pacific and gently mocking outlook has given way to out and out violence. The image shows a wigged and gowned judge hammering a prone protester with his gavel. The placard raised in defence by the fallen man is covered with blood and, having downed his opponent, the judge beats on.
The mural, which was somehow painted directly beneath a CCTV camera, has already been covered with sheeting and put behind a barrier manned by security guards – itself a possible subject for a future Banksy. The artist confirmed that the work was his when he posted his image on his Instagram account with the simple caption: “Royal Courts Of Justice. London.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk showed his continuing fascination with the societal issues of countries of which he is not a citizen by responding to a question posed on X (by a poster who couldn’t locate the question mark on his keyboard): “Do you LIKE the new Banksy mural at the Royal Courts of Justice! [sic]” with a pithy “Accurate”. Nevertheless, despite his advocacy, criminal damage has supposedly been invoked and it looks likely the mural will be removed.
It is surely no coincidence that the mural appeared just days after a march in support of Palestine Action saw some 900 people were arrested. This too is a new departure for Banksy. His images are usually generic, taking aim at a mood or prevailing circumstances rather than in response to a specific event. There is a directness to the new mural, the humour – or rather the role reversal double take – is sardonic, the brutality confrontational. It is a picture not meant simply to surprise but to shock.
There is an irony to this too. Banksy has never been explicit about his politics but his work suggests a progressive sensibility and the RCJ mural will undoubtedly appeal to that constituency. However, for those with opposite political views, the judiciary is not necessarily an unequivocal good, as evidenced by the Daily Mail’s 2016 “Enemies of the People” headline. Perhaps it is this group that will approve of the mural most: the protester gets his comeuppance; the judge is the reviled villain. It represents a victimless crime. This is not, one expects, what Banksy intended.
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[See also: My night dancing with Nigel Farage]
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