By Thea Opperman.
On the 14th November, The Art Newspaper confirmed that the British street artist Banksy has created seven new murals in various locations across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, the suburb of Irpin and the town of Borodyanka. Speculation arose earlier this week as the graffiti artist debuted his latest mural on Instagram, whilst three more were spotted by civilians in and around Kyiv.
The first artwork Banksy claimed ownership over was a mural in Borodyanka, portraying a painted gymnast doing a handstand on a pile of rubble. Borodyanka, 35 miles northwest of Kyiv, sustained significant damage from Russian infantry, and some 13,000 who lived in the town prior to the invasion, have had to flee. Oleksiy Savochka, a 32-year-old Ukrainian, spoke to the Agence France-Presse and stated that it is ‘a symbol that we are unbreakable…and our country is unbreakable.’
One mural depicts a man said to resemble the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, being thrown to the floor during a judo match with a young boy. Another shows a young gymnast doing a handstand, whilst the others include a bearded man taking a bath, a woman in her dressing gown, hair in curlers, wearing a gas mask and wielding a fire extinguisher, and, by incorporating an existing graffiti of a penis, Banksy has depicted a nuclear warhead loaded onto the back of an armoured truck.
The simplicity of Banksy’s subject matter is well known, but there is something distinctly beautiful about portraying such ordinary men and women doing such ordinary things – having a bath or curling your hair – in a country whose people and buildings are so torn and destroyed.
Although these new works of Banksy’s are his first murals in over a year, the artist’s involvement in the war effort in Ukraine has been incredibly strong from the start. Back in March, a print of one of his most famous anti-war pieces, CNC Soldiers was sold at auction, raising $106,505 for a children’s hospital in Kyiv. The original mural first appeared outside the Houses of Parliament in London in 2003, during protests against the war in Iraq.
Given the recent developments in Poland following the two deaths on NATO soil, it would be easy to overlook what a momentous moment this work from Banksy is for Ukraine. In fact, speaking to Reuters’ Gleb Garanich and Max Hunder, 31-year-old Alina Mazur said, ‘this is such a historic moment for our country, that people like Banksy and other famous figures are coming here and showing the world what Russia has done to us.’
The importance of fame and world-wide notability has been a key player in the Ukrainian war-efforts – indeed, Sean Penn has just lent Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy his Oscar as a ‘symbol of faith.’ However, Banksy’s work feels like the first sign of solidarity from the art world, insofar as there is new art being created on the ground for the Ukrainian people. Completing these works in Ukraine, they are a sign of peace and unity of course, but more poignantly, Banksy has given the people of Ukraine pieces of art to come back to, to rebuild their country upon in a time where creativity has been forced to take a back seat.