Nadim Wahbeh
Texas A&M University at Qatar
English 104
Professor Joseph Williams
December 4th, 2015
Banksy
Abstract
When people think of the word art, then things like drawing, painting,
dancing, acting, or other performing arts may come to their mind. However,
there is one key aspect that truly defines art and that is: self expression.
Throughout time, people have found various ways to express themselves,
typically through art forms. However, past art categories were not enough for
some people to fully deliver a powerful message. Therefore, subcategories of
art, such as street art, have emerged. Of course, with the emergence of
street art, we saw the hidden talent of many artists, such as Banksy. Banksy
is a popular figure and his work has been known to deliver extremely
powerful political and social messages. There are some people who havent
heard of Banksy, but they probably have seen images of his graffiti work,
which uses strong imagery to convey his opinion with the modern world.
Banksys artwork ranges from Europe, to the Middle East, and U.S.A. His work
has been influential and inspired many people to make this world a better
place. Banksys disgust with the modern world led him to highlight injustice
and spread awareness throughout the globe. Despite remaining anonymous,
many writers have published books analyzing Banksys works which usually
carry a sarcastic tone. Furthermore, a popular figure is not popular without
having detractors. There are many people who believe that Banksys work is
not a form of art, but instead, is pure vandalism. Banksy, although being
targeted by many people around the world, has continued doing what hes
best at. This paper will discuss how street artist Banksy has used graffiti as a
powerful and influential weapon to deliver messages to a world blinded by
the truth.
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Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature
and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle
human nature and suppress truth (Xiabo, 2012). The freedom to express
ones opinion without having a government or party interfere has been one
of the most contemporary and controversial issues. However, people have
overcome this obstacle by finding various methods to express their opinions
and help in the development of society. One of the ways that people have
used to express their feelings and opinions is through art. Focusing on the
visual forms of art such as paintings, graffiti, and sculpture. The beauty of art
is that it is very diverse and can be read and interpreted differently. Art has
advanced with time, generating major sub-categories, such as graffiti.
Graffiti, derived from the Greek word graphein which literally means to
write, has played an essential role in helping people express their opinion
and views on occurrences and issues from the past and present (Phillips).
Street art graffiti has emerged in recent years as an influential form of
expression and critical element in raising political and social awareness. This
essay will focus on explaining how an artist, Banksy, managed to highlight
corruption in this world.
With the rise of street art, talented graffiti artists have surfaced. One
artist who goes by the name Banksy has successfully caught media
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attention, gaining international recognition and reputation for his street art
which mainly consists of graffiti. From the beginning of his career, Banksy
has managed to portray his opinion in the form of graffiti, while still
maintaining his anonymous identity. According to Tristan Manco, in his book
Home Sweet Home, Banksy was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol,
England. Being the son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher
but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the
late 1980s (120). Since graffiti work is considered illegal in some places
such as Bristol, Banksy adopted his title as Banksy to protect himself from
the legal authorities (Sen). Banksy initially started his street art career as a
free-hand graffiti artist for Bristols DryBreads Crew along with two other
local crew members, who managed to portray their opinion through the form
of graffiti on the walls of Bristol (Dickens). Banksy was also inspired by local
Bristol artists, such as graffiti writer 3D, who was responsible for bringing
freehand graffiti writing from New York to the UK. Later on in his career,
Banksy developed his style of graffiti after being heavily influenced by Xavier
Prou, a French graffiti artist who goes by the name Birotle Rat. Xavier used
stencils back in 1981 to create graffiti images, in order to convey political
messages. Banksy adopted Xavier Prous technique, which inspired him to
target mostly politics with his graffiti work. In his book stencil graffiti, Tristan
Manco mentions a quote by Banksy, describing his new technique saying: As
soon as I cut my first stencil, I could feel the power there. I also like the
political edge. All graffiti is low level dissent, but stencils have an extra
history, theyve been used to start revolutions and to stop wars (Manco,
2002, p. 113). Moreover, despite causing major uproar among anti-vandals,
Banksy has managed to use his graffiti artwork as a weapon to raise
awareness, portray his opinion, and influence other artists.
Banksys form of graffiti has been used to draw attention and raise
awareness for political and social injustice. By being an extremely popular
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graffiti artist, Banksy is able to draw public attention and raise awareness
through his graffiti images. One notable political issue that Banksy has
managed to highlight is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is one of the worlds major sources of instabilities, which has been
described as the worlds most intractable conflict (Munayer, p.162).
Nonetheless, despite the ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis,
biased media across the world has failed to portray the truth of this historical
conflict; hence, not many people across the world are aware of the
Palestinian struggle.
Being an active and non-violent supporter for the Palestinians,
Banksy used his talent to reflect his views on the Palestinian current
struggles. Banksy visited the West Bank of Palestine in 2005, aiming to draw
public attention. Banksy was able to create nine images on Israels highly
controversial separation wall, expressing his political stance in his own,
unique style. In his book, Banksy: The Man Behind The Wall, Will EllsworthJones described these paintings saying: everything good about Banksy was
on display in these paintings. They made his point about the awfulness of the
wall, but they made it in a subtle way, far better than any slogan could. They
were very specific to the site; they were poignant and there was no need to
wash into a gallery to see them (Jones, 2012, p. 129). The images on the
wall are Banksys creative approach for raising political awareness about the
dangerous conditions that Palestinian people are coping with. For example,
one painting on the separation wall shows a young innocent girl holding
balloons and attempting to float over the wall (Please See Appendix A). This
painting highlights the innocence of young Palestinians who have to deal
with the separation wall everyday. Moreover, Banksy used his popularity over
the internet as a weapon to enlighten and raise awareness about the
separation wall. For example, one way Banksy managed to raise awareness
is by publishing pictures, such as the girl holding balloons, on his personal
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website, which captured the attention of many people over the internet.
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Banksy's artwork has also influenced a large number of artists and nonartists. For example, Banksy influenced Egyptians, in particular, during the
Egyptian revolution in 2011. In her book, The Role of the Visual in Political
Struggle, Link Khatib mentions that street art plays a huge role in the
Egyptian revolution, saying that street art made a visual expression a key
tool in political protest, catalyzing the use of street art in other revolutions
that followed in the Arab world, such as in Libya and Syria (Khatib, 2012,
299). Banksys graffiti carrying political messages influenced young men and
women to use graffiti as a weapon of self expression. For example, one
graffiti image, which was used to protest against Egyptian military violence,
represents an original image of a girl in a blue bra, being beaten up by the
Egyptian military during a protest in Tahir Square in Cairo, Egypt. (Please See
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Appendix F for the original image). The image of the female protester is a
clear sign of the abuse and violence of the Egyptian military; therefore, this
image quickly caught the attention of Egyptian artists and non-artists, who
stenciled the blue bra to symbolize the corruption and acts of violence
against innocent women. (Please See Appendix G). This style of stenciling
could be seen as an Egyptian adaptation of Banksys style in conveying
powerful messages. Furthermore, in response to the military violence against
innocent people, Egyptian students took on the streets in an awareness
campaign involving graffiti. The group of students used Banksys style of
stenciled graffiti to raise awareness about violence in the region (Please See
Appendix H). Furthermore, Banksy did not only influence Egyptians during
the Egyptian revolution, but also inspired street art in Norway. An artist who
goes by the name Skurktkur adopted Banksys style to deliver social
comments; Skurkturs street art is teeming with social commentary and
satire, which is in keeping with the M.O. of the great Banksy himself
(Rayner). It is clear that Banksys unique style has been influential, inspiring
people to use stenciled graffiti to raise awareness and express their social
and political opinion.
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Ever since he started his graffiti career in Bristol, Banksy has been
catching media and public attention with his graffiti images, carrying
powerful political and social messages. Throughout his career, Banksy has
been able to use graffiti as an awareness weapon, which ironically has
criticized the real weapon used against innocent people across the world.
Furthermore, Banksy not only raised awareness, but he also inspired people
to adopt his style and continue spreading the truth to the world. Although
being targeted by many anti-vandals around the world, Banksy has
continued to fight for his right of freedom of expression and convey his
opinion on the world's corruption in his own, unique style.
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Appendix
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http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/banksys-10-most-powerful-workssocial-commentary
Appendix A: The White Cat
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http://banksy.co.uk/index3.asp
Appendix B: Syrian Girl Releasing a Balloon in the Shape of a Heart'
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http://firstperson.oxfamamerica.org/2014/03/banksy-standing-withsyria/
Appendix C: Mobile Lovers
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/10768697/Banksys-boost-forBristol-youth-club.html
Appendix D: Banksys Painted Elephant
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5355638.stm
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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/dismalandbanksys-bemusement-park-is-deeply-unsettling-but-bizarrely-entertaining10465485.html
Appendix F: The Girl in the Blue Bra
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http://arabist.net/blog/2012/1/19/carter-tantawi-in-denial-over-girl-in-theblue-bra.html
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http://designandviolence.moma.org/blue-bra-graffiti-bahia-shehab/
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http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3736/far-outside-cairo_a-graffiticampaign-to-denounce-
Sources:
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Banksy: Wall and Piece (1st ed., Vol. 1, p. 127, 140). (2005). London: Century.
Beer, J. (2014, March 13). Banksy And Idris Elba Stand With Victims Of Syrian
Civil War In This Animated Video. Retrieved November 13, 2015, from
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Birchall, B. (2014, April 14). Banksy's boost for Bristol youth club. Retrieved
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Bryant, K. (2015, June 3). Banksy In Gaza: How Graffiti Fuels Social Justice.
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Dickens, L. (n.d.). How Did Banksy Become The World's Most Famous Vandal?
Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zytpn39
ElArmani, I. (2012, January 19). Carter: Tantawi in denial over "girl in the blue
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banksys-bemusement-park-is-deeply-unsettling-but-bizarrely-entertaining10465485.html
Johnson, B. (n.d.). 15 Life Lessons From Banksy Street Art That Will Leave You
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New York, N.Y.: St. Martins Press.
Khalil, N. (2014, September 3). Blue Bra Graffiti (Bahia Shehab). Retrieved
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Liu, X., & Link, E. (2012). No Enemies, No Hatred. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press.
Manco, T. (2002). Stencil Graffiti. New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson.
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'world's largest open-air prison' Retrieved November 14, 2015, from
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/banksy-creates-
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street-art-in-gaza-criticising-worlds-largest-open-air-prison-10072446.html
Wright, S., Manco, Tristan (2007). Banksys Bristol: Home Sweet Home. San
Francisco: Last Gasp.
Opinion Page
Writing a research paper is not an easy task and requires time. I'm used to
writing research papers, however this one is a bit different. I actually enjoyed
writing this research paper because I learned a lot of great things about my
artist. It's really amazing how I used to look at paintings of Banksy in my
hometown and I never knew they were by him. However, as I grew older, I
discovered Banksy and loved his work. When I was in 9th grade, I told myself
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that I need to catch this artist the next time he comes to the West Bank.
However, he hasn't visited since 2005, but I still hope I can see him in action.
You assigned this paper probably because you want us to learn use the
internet effectively to learn about something we do not know much about.
Also, you want us to learn how to write research papers because they will be
helpful for the future. The most difficult part of this assignment was the
research. I probably had 100 tabs open and I'm just reading and taking
notes. My research took the most time because I had to look at different
opinions and sources and choose the best one. My favorite part of this
assignment was writing this paper. What I love about research papers is that
when you finish your research, you have the info in your head, you have your
notes, and all that's left is for you to put everything together. For me, writing
this paper while listening to Adele's new song on repeat was my favorite!
Before writing this paper, I didn't know so much about Banksy. I obviously am
familiar with some of his work, but I never knew much about his life. I did not
know what got him into graffiti and/or why he does what he does. After
writing this paper, I started liking Banksy even more. When I go back home
in two weeks, I'm gonna go look at his graffiti on the separation wall and just
enjoy the beauty of his artwork.
My favorite piece by Banksy is the 'White Cat.' What I love about it is why he
chose to draw a cat. The reason he did is because people over the internet
are always looking at pictures of cats. It is a very smart move by Banksy that
proves how his work is extraordinary and unique.
The art piece:
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