British street artist Banksy has recently taken to Instagram to reveal seven new artworks he spray-painted on the walls of shelled cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Borodyanka, and Irpin. The anonymous artist from Bristol is not foreign to conflict zones, having previously created artworks in places such as Gaza and the West Bank. The murals in Ukraine are his first public works in over a year.
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Following speculation that the artist had visited Ukraine after three works in his style were spotted, Banksy confirmed his visit on Instagram with a picture of one of the works, which depicts a gymnast doing a handstand on the wall of a destroyed residential building in the town of Borodyanka.
Borodyanka, about 50km north of Kyiv, had been occupied by Russian forces until its liberation in April, before which it was heavily bombed, with reports indicating that civilians, as well as forces, had been targeted. In another mural in the town, close to a kindergarten and a block of residential apartments, a bombed-out wall figures a young child throwing a grown man, who resembles Vladimir Putin, on the floor during a judo match – a sport that the Russian president is well-known for.
In a mural in Irpin, a city also close to Kyiv, Banksy depicts another gymnast dancing with a ribbon while wearing a necktie. The city had been particularly targeted during the early waves of the Russian invasion. From February 27 to March 28, 2022, it fought a long and hard battle with Russian forces that culminated in its recapture, and the celebration of Irpin as 'Hero City of Ukraine'.
In Gorenka, Banksy spray-painted a man washing in a bathtub where an apartment has been bombed out and completely uprooted. In a residential building in Hostomel, near the Antonov airport, a mural depicts a woman standing in her dressing gown and hair curlers wearing a gas mask and holding a fire extinguisher close to a window blackened by smoke and fire. The area had been temporarily seized by the Russian army and heavily shelled.
In Kyiv, Banksy's works figure two children using a metal tank trap as a seesaw in Independence Square, and a pre-existing graffiti of a penis turned into a missile on top of a military truck.
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Although the Bristol artist has become a favorite of auction houses and collectors, his art remains rooted in the streets. Banksy's works have been appearing for decades on city streets worldwide, with messages usually charged with political meaning. This latest murals were made "in solidarity with the people of Ukraine", as the artist shared in a video.
