Banksy menagerie shakes London society - 26th August 2024

Bansky has whipped up a stir around London creating a menagerie of stenciled animals in his world-famous graffiti style. His zoological odyssey weaved around the city after setting off from south-west London with a goat balanced on a precarious ledge. Some blind windows in Chelsea were brought to life the next day by two elephants reaching out to each other's trunks.

Known to offer critiques on the military-industrial complex, capitalism and the human condition, Banksy's Instagram followers speculated that the works offered commentary on the climate emergency. They pondered whether his elephants could symbolise "the elephant in the room", and the 3 monkeys hanging from a railway bridge in east London might represent the proverb "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

To the joy of the proprietors of a local fish and chip shop in north-east London, a pair of pelicans that appeared on day 5 attracted dozens of additional patrons. Criminals and rivals also followed Banksy's trail, with the elephants of day 2 vandalised with stripes of white paint and day 4's wolf howling at a full moon, on a satellite dish in south London, was stolen in broad daylight an hour after first being noticed.

With verified pieces often selling for a fortune at auction, swift action was taken to shield some of the city's latest Banksies from harm. The advertising billboard in north-west London with a cat stretched out in the morning sun from day 6 was removed for its own preservation. And police whisked to safety a City of London police sentry box decorated with swimming piranhas, painted in translucent paint.

This action proved wise since Banksy's rhinoceros climbing onto a car, sprayed onto a wall in south-east London, was tagged within a few hours, potentially by one of his great rivals.

The grand finale on the gates of London Zoo featured a gorilla lifting the shutter to allow a seal and birds to escape. Thrilled staff had this artwork quietly removed to be exhibited later, with a simple printed sentence in its place, "Banksy woz 'ere".