2015, Palestine, Street Art

The Gaza Strip. February 2015

by R.A.

In February 2015, Banksy published a 2-minute video titled “Make this the year YOU discover a new destination” about his trip to the Gaza Strip. During the visit to Gaza in early 2015, Banksy painted at least four exquisite works, among them a weeping Niobe, and a kitten on the remains of a house destroyed by an Israeli air strike. He also did a text-based piece, a quote from Christian philosopher Paolo Freire, of Brazilian origin: “If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, we side with the powerful; we don’t remain neutral. ”

In his own words, in a statement to the New York Times:

“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 . I don’t want to take sides. But when you see entire suburban neighborhoods reduced to rubble with no hope of a future — what you’re really looking at is a vast outdoor recruitment center for terrorists. And we should probably address this for all our sakes.”

“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.”
Greek goddess Niobe, weeping for her dead offspring
“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.”
Quote by Christian philosopher Paolo Freire.

Videoclip of the Gaza operation:

Source: Banksyfilm