Graffiti artist Banksy is understood to be behind a new mural in the English port town of Dover. The mural, which depicts the European Union flag with one of its stars being chipped away by a workman on a ladder, appeared on Sunday, having been installed overnight.
The mural is installed on the side of a building on the road approaching Dover’s port, now one of the UK’s main ferry crossing routes to Europe. With the UK general election set for 8 June, and the prospect of Brexit negotiations with the EU dominating domestic political debate, Banksy’s latest work may give some indication of where the graffiti star stands on the issue.
A previous work by the artist, placed in 2014 in Clacton-on-Sea, satirised anti-immigration sentiments, depicting pigeons protesting against the arrival of an ‘immigrant’ swallow. That mural had appeared in advance of a by-election in the seaside town, where the UK Independence Party eventually won its first (and only) parliamentary seat. Ironically, the work was later painted over by local council officials, after complaints that the pigeons’ banners might constitute ‘offensive and racist remarks’.
Read J.J. Charlesworth on Banksy from the January & February issue of ArtReview
8 May 2017
