Garett Labb for Art-Sheep
Remember Niobe? Banksy’s mysterious art piece that showed up in his Instagram account a few days ago and everybody thought it was in Bristol, where Banksy first made his name as a street artist? Well, Niobe is actually called “Bomb Damage” and it is part of his new series of work that he has been working on in Gaza. “Bomb Damage” is, indeed, inspired by the Greek mythological character whose children were killed by Artemis and Apollo and who, after this, turned by her grief into a stone figure forever weeping.
In addition to this piece, Banksy also unveiled four other works that can be found around Gaza. Along with the images of the mysterious British street artist’s new stencils were two quotes by him:
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. — Banksy
A local man came up and said ‘Please – what does this mean?’ I explained I wanted to highlight the destruction in Gaza by posting photos on my website – but on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens. — Banksy
As in the case of his works in New York city works, one of his pieces in Gaza is text based and 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”.
Subsequently, Banksy included a video 2 minutes long that chronicles his current stay at Gaza and serves as a strong statement about the situation there.
via streetartnews
We love you Banksy <3
