Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director. He has never publicly confirmed his identity. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.
Paintings by Banksy
Love Is in the Bin (2018)
Love Is in the Bin is a 2018 art intervention by Banksy at Sotheby's London. According to Sotheby's, it is "the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction." His 2006 painting of Girl with Balloon unexpectedly self-destructed immediately after it was sold at auction. The damaged painting was later renamed Love Is in the Bin. It has been on permanent loan to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart since March 2019. In October 2021, it sold at auction for £18,582,000 (then equivalent to US$25,327,452 or €21.62M), a record for the artist.
The painting is an adaptation of Banksy's 2002 mural Girl with Balloon, rare as a unique work rather than a print. It was given by Banksy to a friend shortly after the "Barely Legal" exhibition in 2006. Banksy has said he prepared the self-destruct mechanism at this time in case the work was ever put up for auction.
The Son of a Migrant from Syria (2015)
The Son of a Migrant from Syria is a 2015 mural by graffiti artist Banksy. The mural was located in the Calais jungle, a nickname for the encampment near Calais, France, where migrants lived as they attempted to enter the United Kingdom. The artwork depicts the late Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs—the son of a Syrian migrant to the United States—as a traveling migrant.
Since the beginning of the European migrant crisis, many people have been fleeing war-torn Syria. Thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea, lived in a temporary camp nicknamed the Jungle near Calais, France. Banksy, an English-based artist and political activist, had previously donated pieces of his former installation Dismaland to help construct shelters in the camp.
Girl with Balloon (2002)
Girl with Balloon (also, Balloon Girl or Girl and Balloon) is a series of stencil murals around London by the graffiti artist Banksy, started in 2002. They depict a young girl with her hand extended toward a red heart-shaped balloon carried away by the wind. The locations for this work include street murals in Shoreditch and the South bank in London on the Waterloo Bridge and other murals were around London, though none remain there.
Banksy has several times used variants of this design to support social campaigns: in 2005 about the West Bank barrier, in 2014 about the Syrian refugee crisis, and also about the 2017 UK election. A 2017 Samsung poll ranked Girl with Balloon as the United Kingdom's number one favourite artwork.
Banksy statue (2026)
A statue by Banksy was installed at Waterloo Place in London, in 2026. It depicts a man in a suit holding a large flag in front of himself as it blows back in his face, obscuring his vision, as he steps off the plinth on which he is standing. Commentators have noted the placement of the work near statues and monuments commemorating British imperialism such as that of Edward VII and the Crimean War Memorial.
In the early hours of the morning on 29 April 2026, the statue was installed in Waterloo Place near St James's in London. Passersby noticed that the plinth of the statue had Banksy's signature inscribed on it. After the artist posted a video of the installation and the statue on 30 April, the BBC confirmed that the artist was responsible for the statue.
Slave Labour (mural) (2012)
Slave Labour is a mural that was painted by a British graffiti artist, Banksy, on the side wall of a Poundland store in Wood Green, London in May 2012. The artwork is 48 inches (122 cm) high by 60 inches (152 cm) wide, and depicts an urchin child at a sewing machine assembling a bunting of Union Jack patches. The work was a protest against the use of sweatshops to manufacture Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics memorabilia in 2012.
In February 2013 the mural was removed from its location and put up for sale at Fine art Auctions in Miami, US. After an appeal from the residents of Wood Green the mural was withdrawn from sale in the US and returned to the UK. It was sold at an auction in Covent Garden, London for (USD) $1.2 million.
One Nation Under CCTV (2007)
One Nation Under CCTV was a 2007 mural by graffiti artist Banksy on Newman Street in London. Painted on the wall of a building used by the Royal Mail, it depicted a child in a red hooded top painting the phrase, while being watched by a police officer and a dog. The mural was situated adjacent to a CCTV camera. In 2008, the Westminster City Council ordered the work's removal on the grounds that it was an unlicensed commercial. The mural was painted over in April 2009.
Civilian Drone Strike (Banksy) (2017)
Civilian Drone Strike is a 2017 artwork by Banksy. The work depicts three General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drones flying above a child's drawing of a bombed house with a child and pet looking on at the destruction. The piece was donated to the Art the Arms Fair exhibition, which was held to coincide with the 2017 DSEI arms fair. The work sold for £205,000. Proceeds from the sale have been donated to Campaign Against Arms Trade and Reprieve.
Follow Your Dreams (Banksy) (2010)
Follow Your Dreams was a work of street art by Banksy, located on Essex Street in the Chinatown area of Boston, United States. Completed in 2010, it was among the earliest of his works in the United States.
The work depicted a man holding a brush and bucket stood by a handprinted sign saying "follow your dreams." The drip-dried slogan, which is a dark grey along with the man, had a red stamp over it reading "cancelled".
Depictions of Elizabeth II by Banksy
Over the years, the graffiti artist Banksy produced a series of signed and unsigned screenprints and artwork featuring Elizabeth II.
Originally made in 2001 as a promotional image for Banksy's website, Weapons of Mass Distraction mimics the traditional royal portrait style. The piece features 16 repeated images of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a gas mask, arranged and perforated like functional postage stamps.
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill (2008)
The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is an art installation by Banksy. Held in Greenwich Village in 2008, it marked the graffiti artist's first official exhibition in New York. The installation took the form of a fake pet shop and aimed to question "our relationship with animals and the ethics and sustainability of factory farming".
Banksy said that "New Yorkers don't care about art, they care about pets. So I'm exhibiting them instead." The installation featured a variety of bizarre exhibits, including animatronic hot-dogs apparently performing a sex act; chicken nuggets with legs, dipping themselves in sauce; and a robot monkey wearing headphones, watching TV in a cage.
From this moment despair ends and tactics begin (2019)
From this moment despair ends and tactics begin is a stencil mural at Marble Arch in London by the graffiti artist Banksy. It was created during Extinction Rebellion protests in London in 2019 when Marble Arch was a base for the protestors.
The slogan is a quotation from The Revolution of Everyday Life by the Situationist philosopher Raoul Vaneigem. This book was first published in 1967 as Traité de savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations and inspired many such slogans painted as graffiti by Paris students during the unrest of May 68. It then inspired British revolutionaries such as the Angry Brigade.
Umbrella Girl (2008)
New Orleans: Building vacant since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 damaged by Hurricane Gustav in 2008. Formerly housed drop-in medical care facility until Katrina.