Banksy & The Migrant Crisis: From Glastonbury to M. V. Louise Michel
Banksy Stunt Timelines © MyArtBroker 2024
Banksy
266 works
Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain
Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate.
Danny Nedelko, IDLES
There are few artists working today that can be considered truly “political”. In the past two decades, artists seem to have lost their ability to shock, to effectively grapple with the socio-political issues of their time, and to use their art to hold a mirror up to the establishments which govern society. One artist who has never strayed from their political core is Banksy. Cloaked behind anonymity for the entirety of his “career”, Banksy has always made art which seeks to uplift the oppressed, and point a finger at those who restrict freedom.
BANKSY AT GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL: FROM THE STORMZY VEST TO THE MIGRANT BOAT
Glastonbury Festival has always been celebrated as a stronghold for cultural and political expression, as well as a convergence of the best in music. The festival is a space where art intersects with activism: a fertile ground for the incessantly-political Banksy (especially with migration emerging as a key theme this year at Worthy Farm). On Friday 28 June, Banksy launched his latest stunt at Glastonbury. During the fellow-Bristol-based punk band IDLES’ set, an inflatable life boat carrying life jacket-donning dummies surfed the crowd at the Other stage. Many in the crowd assumed that the band were behind the stunt, which began during their song Danny Nedelko, tracing the story of the Heavy Lungs frontman and Ukrainian immigrant. After their set ended however, the band denied their involvement in the migrant raft installation, and confirmed that Banksy was behind it. On Sunday 30 June, Banksy took to his Instagram account to validate the work as his own with a video of the boat sailing the crowds with no caption: allowing the macabre and confronting footage to speak for itself.
On Saturday at the festival, Banksy also sent the installation into the crowd at rapper Little Simz’s set on the Pyramid stage. This is not the first time Banksy has held a highly politicised stunt at Glastonbury. Back in 2005, Banksy unveiled Lost Children at the festival, a spray painted stencil piece which prompted a reevaluation of power dynamics between the police and civilians (another major trope in Banksy’s oeuvre). Fast-forward to 2019, the rapper Stormzy emerged on the Pyramid stage for his headline slot wearing a black and white Union Jack stab vest. Prior to the festival, Stormzy took to the Brit Awards and changed the lyrics to one of his freestyles - using the opportunity to call out Theresa May and the Conservative Party’s failure to bring justice to the victims of Grenfell. After the set, Banksy confirmed the stab vest as his own design, and Stormzy its rightful wearer.
BANKSY & POLITICS: MV LOUISE MICHEL & JAMES CLEVERLY’S REACTION TO THE MIGRANT BOAT
The migrant boat stunt came just days before the UK general election and, if we know anything about Banksy, we know that nothing is coincidental. The dummies aboard the inflatable raft were clearly made to look like migrants who have risked their lives crossing the Channel in recent years: a poignant and glaring criticism of the UK and EU government’s handling of the humanitarian crisis.
Just as festival-goers, and those watching the stunt unfurl at home, prepare to take to the polls on Thursday 4 July, Banksy reminded us all about the atrocities facing refugees on our borders. The act certainly ruffled the feathers of Home Secretary James Cleverly, who deemed the stunt as “vile”. Cleverly told Sky News: “People die in the Mediterranean, they die on the Channel. This is not funny. It is vile. This is a celebration of the loss of life on the Channel.” The Home Secretary went on to criticise “festival-goers cosplaying as migrants, and celebrating the actions of people smugglers, while they party”. It would seem that Cleverly missed the point of the stunt entirely. Banksy is certainly aware that people die in the Mediterranean, and he certainly doesn’t “celebrate” the loss of life. On the contrary, 2020 saw Banksy announce M.V. Louise Michel (named after a French anarchist), a French navy vessel which the artist bought and “converted into a lifeboat because EU authorities deliberately ignore distress calls from ‘non-Europeans’”. The vessel, which is painted pink and bears a spray painted Girl With Balloon reaching for a heart-shaped life ring, regularly assists people in distress on the Med - something which is documented on the NGO’s Instagram account.
On 3 July, Banksy responded to the seizing of M.V. Louise Michel with a picture of the boat docked to harbour. The post reads: “The Home Secretary called my Glastonbury boat ‘vile and unacceptable’ which seemed a bit over the top. The real boat I fund, the MV Louise Michel rescued 17 unaccompanied children from the central Med on Monday night.” As punishment the Italian authorities have detained it - which seems vile and unacceptable to me.” Banksy only has one other post dedicated to M.V. Louise Michel on his own Instagram account, and this post serves as a staunch rebuttal against Cleverly’s thoughts on the Glastonbury stunt. Banksy continues to use his platform to uphold human rights and freedom for all, always challenging the systems of power which control who has a right to freedom and safety. For Banksy, that’s what art is.
Banksy
266 works
