south arts festival

Bansky, The Little Girl With The Balloon, London, 2002                                             

Source: Dominic Robinson

Bansky is the most famous street artist in the world. The anonymous artist has been creating works of art all over the world for more than 23 years. The primary characterization of his work? Its ability to provoke. The British artist works mainly with spray cans and stencils that he prepares before he begins painting. In 2002, he created one of his most recognisable works, The Little Girl with a Balloon, in London. This little girl in a black dress lets her balloon fly away, and Banksy writes next to the tag “There is always hope”. It’s his way of saying that we should never give up even when everything seems to be at its worst. In 2018, during an auction for the silkscreened version, the work self-destructed a few seconds after the auctioneer’s hammer hit. This is one of the biggest artistic scandals.