This latest work, depicting two elephants facing each other, adorns the blocked-out windows of a building in Chelsea. The image was also shared on Banksy’s Instagram account on Tuesday, marking his second cryptic post following the appearance of a stenciled mountain goat precariously balanced on a structure near London’s Kew Bridge.
The emergence of these two images has ignited a flurry of speculation online and in the press. Many ponder what message Banksy is conveying through his art. One particularly resonant comment on Instagram suggested, “Walking by and ignoring ‘the elephant in the room’… Perfect representation of the UK right now.” Meanwhile, Amber Doffman, a London resident, opined in The Sun that the mountain goat symbolizes the destruction of natural habitats by human activities. “[It could be about] how we’ve ruined [the environment] to the point that animals don’t know where to go anymore,” Doffman said. She also pointed out an interesting detail: a security camera, once directed elsewhere, now faces the goat, as if seeking its attention.
These murals come on the heels of Banksy’s response to British Home Secretary James Cleverly’s critique of another of his works. The contentious piece, featuring an inflatable migrant raft, made its appearance at the Glastonbury music festival in early July. Cleverly condemned the artwork as “vile and unacceptable” during an interview on Sky News. Banksy’s retort, via Instagram, suggested that Cleverly’s reaction was exaggerated. He noted, “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.”
As these new murals capture the attention of art enthusiasts and critics alike, they also raise concerns about preservation. A Banksy mural in northern London, which depicted a life-sized woman holding a pressure washer next to green paint shaped like a tree’s leaves, was defaced with white paint shortly after its debut in March. In response, the building’s owner had to install protective plastic sheets and wooden boards. It remains to be seen whether similar measures will be necessary to safeguard Banksy’s latest contributions to London’s urban landscape.
