The world’s best-known anonymous street artist has just unveiled his latest creation. This week, Banksy painted a mysterious goat on a ledge in southwest London. The guerilla artist is known for his poignant political commentary, but the goat’s intended meaning is currently the subject of much speculation.
Goat Appears in Banksy’s Signature Style
The new Banksy mural, painted on the side of a building in the artist’s signature stenciled style, depicts a mountain goat on a ledge. A real-life security camera looks on as the goat struggles to maintain its footing. Stenciled rocks fall from the silhouetted animal’s precarious perch. The Banksy goat appeared this week on the side of a building near the Kew Bridge in southwest London. The artist rearranged a CCTV camera as part of the piece, but it has since been moved back into its original position. On August 5, Banksy confirmed the goat was his creation by posting an image of it on his Instagram page. The artist typically takes to social media to authenticate his street art.
What Is the Meaning of Banksy’s Goat?
Banksy’s Instagram post did not include a caption, leaving the goat open to public interpretation. Thousands of commenters on the post took their best guesses at the artist’s intended meaning—from referring to Banksy as the “goat [greatest of all time]” to suggesting the mural represents humanity on the verge of extinction. Many commenters were curious about Banksy’s inclusion of the CCTV camera, wondering if it referenced the decline of personal privacy in an increasingly surveilled world. Others questioned whether Banksy’s goat was meant to signify anything at all.
Bansky Goat Follows Glatsonbury Controversy
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Banksy’s most recent public work, which he staged at Glatsonbury Festival in June, sparked some controversy. The artist crowd-surfed an inflatable migrant boat carrying dummy refugees during a set by the British punk band Idle. James Cleverly, then Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, derided Banksy’s migrant boat as “vile and unacceptable.” Banksy clapped back in an Instagram post, describing the Home Secretary’s words as “a bit over the top.” The artist also wrote that the real-life migrant boat he personally funds, the MV Louise Michel, “rescued 17 unaccompanied children from the central Mediterranean. As punishment, the Italian authorities have detained it—which seems vile and unacceptable to me.” Banksy’s Glatsonbury stunt was interpreted as a response to then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s remark that “stopping the boats” was among his top priorities.
Banksy’s most recent London artwork appeared in Finsbury Park in March. Banksy roughly sprayed green paint on a residential building wall behind a pruned tree, creating the illusion of foliage. He matched the exact green hue to the local council’s street signs and included a stencil of a person holding a pressure hose. Two days after the mural appeared, it was defaced with splashes of white paint.
