TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Suspected Banksy work tackles climate protests
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Graffiti artwork, suspected to have been created by the British street artist Banksy, is pictured opposite the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion's camp at Marble Arch in London on April 26, 2019 (AFP/Isabel Infantes)
A
new work believed to be by British street artist Banksy appeared near London's Marble Arch on Friday, where climate change protesters have camped out for days.
The work features a child clasping a symbol of Extinction Rebellion, the group behind the protests, crouching next to a spade and a new plant.
"From this moment despair ends and tactics begin," reads a sign next to the artwork, located at one of central London's busiest road junctions.
"I think it's virtually a certainty it's him," art dealer Andrew Tetley told London's Evening Standard newspaper.
"It hasn't been confirmed obviously that it is Banksy yet, but clearly there's a lot of excitement," added street art fan Lindsey Solomons, 53.
"I think the message speaks for itself really, that if we don't do something about the planet clearly we're going to be in a desperate state, and he captures that so well," she told AFP.
Environmentalists used festive but highly disruptive rallies since last week to focus global attention on climate change, bringing parts of London to a standstill.
The entire campaign saw police make 1,130 arrests and press charges against 69 people.
Read also: Banksy homage to Bataclan stolen from Paris theater
Banksy, whose identity is known to only a handful of friends, caused a sensation in October when one of his paintings began shredding itself, just after selling for $1.4 million (1.2 million euros).
The artist has previously espoused themes such as immigration and refugees, the Palestinian cause and the yellow vest movement in France.
