The mysterious undercover street artist, Banksy, who is widely believed to be Robert Gunningham from Bristol in the UK, has once again left a poignant artistic impact which will be shown the world over.
Banksy travelled to Palestine by car and then had to climb through what he has described as a “network of illegal tunnels” to reach his destination and deliver this strong and powerful message with graffiti on ruins and concrete rubble.
In amongst destroyed buildings, Bansky has left his mark with a piece entitled “Bomb Damage” depicting the Greek Goddess Niobe weeping and cowering. The mythology behind this story is that Niobe lost her children due to pride and how the God’s will not hesitate to seek revenge for human arrogance.
Not only did Banksy leave a trail of trademark images on the war torn city, his team have also published a two-minute satirical video of their findings documenting the devastation, saying “Make this the year you discover a new destination,” as though Gaza was a travel destination, to highlight the horrendous conditions that the people of this city are living in.
Banksy wrote on his website, “Gaza is often described as ‘the world’s largest open air prison’ because no one is allowed to enter or leave. But that seems a bit unfair to prisons—they don’t have their electricity and drinking water cut off randomly almost every day.”
The video lingers on a message that was written on a wall with graffiti which reads, “If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless we side with the powerful—we don’t remain neutral.”
Bansky previously travelled to Palestine in 2005 where he left his nine images on Israel’s West Bank barrier.
The images are Bansky’s way of making a political charged statement and raising awareness about the dire and desperate conditions that the people are forced to live in after the harrowing ordeals of war.
On July 8th 2014 Israel launched a military operation in the Hamas ruled Gaza strip, which included Palestinian rocket attacks as well as fighting on the ground.
The UN states that 96,000 Palestinian refugee homes were destroyed during conflict the 50-day conflict and that more than $720 million would be needed in aid to rebuild the city. The conflict left more than 2,000 Palestinian and 67 Israeli soldiers dead.
Visit Banksy’s website here for more images.
Relephant reads:
Banksy Manifesto.
Gaza Lament. {Poem}
Author: Alexsandra Myles
Editor: Catherine Monkman
Photo: Youtube Screenshots, Imgur
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