Love
Is In The Air (Flower Thrower)
Banksy's Love Is In The Air (Flower Thrower) prints feature a powerful anti-war image, poignantly debuted as a mural on the West Bank Wall. The man in the balaclava, seemingly about to throw a bomb, instead holds a bunch of flowers in a symbolic appeal for peace to replace violence.
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Meaning & Analysis
Love Is In The Air or Flower Thrower is one of the most popular Banksy prints of all time. It was originally created in response to the construction of the West Bank Wall separating Israel from Palestine, which began in 2002. Famously, the large-scale motif was stencilled directly onto the 760km wall shortly after its first extension in 2003.
The Wall, as Banksy put it, “essentially turns Palestine into the world’s largest open prison.” Following its construction, it rapidly became a giant canvas for paintings and writings protesting the actions of the Israeli government.
Banksy returned to the region in 2005 to paint a series of nine provocative works supporting freedom and equality. In 2015 he intervened again, painting four new pieces among the ruins of a bombed city with the intention of highlighting the plight of the people living in the Gaza Strip. In 2017, he opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which boasts the ‘worst view in the world’.
Rendered in Banksy’s characteristic style, Love Is In The Air depicts a young man, dressed as a militant, wearing a baseball cap and a bandana, which masks the lower half of his face. He appears to be in the middle of throwing a grenade or molotov cocktail. However, in an inevitable Banksy twist, he is in fact throwing a bunch of flowers. Despite the overt anger and aggression in his posture, the figure prepares to launch a universal symbol of love and peace - as opposed to a weapon.
