On Wednesday, Banksy shared an image on Instagram showing monkeys appearing to swing on the bridge of an east London Tube station. The artwork is located on a bridge over Brick Lane, near a vintage clothing shop and a coffee house, close to Shoreditch High Street.
Art commentator James Peak suggests this might signal the start of a larger campaign. “It’s thrilling to think there could be more pieces emerging around London in the coming days or weeks,” he noted. “Banksy has a history of creating such campaigns.”
The three monkeys join two other recent animal silhouettes by Banksy: on Tuesday, he posted a photo of two elephants with their trunks intertwined on the side of a house in Edith Terrace, Chelsea, and on Monday, a goat perched on a wall near Kew Bridge in Richmond. None of the Instagram posts included captions, leading to online speculation about their meanings.
The depiction of the three monkeys is particularly intriguing, as they do not cover their eyes, ears, or mouths, diverging from the Japanese proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” This unique interpretation adds an additional layer of mystery to Banksy’s latest series.
