Banksy

Season’s Greetings by Environmental Humanities Hub

Banksy, British, born 1974

Season’s Greetings, 2018

Banksy placed this mural in the town of Port Talbot, a place where residents know all about air pollution as black dust from local steelworks cover the city (“Banksy’s new artwork in Wales: A comment on air pollution?”, AP News, December 19, 2018). With this mural, Banksy encourages viewers to look beyond their first glance, to step back and see the bigger picture. If you only look at the mural from one side, you will either see just a fire or just a child playing in the snow. When you take a step back and look at the mural in its entirety, you can see how this child is consuming the ashes of the fire, fully taking in toxins. Air pollution from the burning of natural gasses is impacting communities on a global scale, but many people fail to make the connection between how their consumption of fossil fuels impacts others. Banksy is challenging us to think about how our environmental impacts affect others. Label by Lindsey Smith

Boat to Rescue Refugees at Sea by Environmental Humanities Hub

Banksy, United Kingdom

Boat to Rescue Refugees at Sea, 2020

The Louise Michel was a former French Navy boat that was refurbished and funded by British artist Banksy. As popular as Banksy is he finds the art as a part of the solution. While there are many wealthy, popular persons that buy yachts for their personal use, Banksy bought his boat to do good. The beauty in this piece for me isn’t necessarily the railing or the Pepto pink paint, rather in the mission. With all the radical events happening in the world Banksy took it upon himself to have his Louise Michel boat in the middle of the Mediterranean to rescue refugees who are trying to swim for their safety and freedom. This boat holds more power and value than some mega yacht ever could. Banksy for years has used his work to voice against various types of injustice and with this inspiring piece, I believe he perfectly brings meaning to art for injustice. Label by Annabel Bentley