A Great British Spraycation
Norfolk, Suffolk, UK
13 August 2021
Credit Photos: Banksy
WORK IN PROGRESS, PLEASE COME BACK FOR MORE
After a week of speculation, Banksy has finally claimed responsibility for pieces of street art that have appeared on the east coast of England, releasing a video on his Instagram page entitled
“A Great British Spraycation”.
After a few months’ recess, Banksy comes back with brio, leaving no less than 10 murals in Great Yarmouth. Gorleston, Cromer and Lowestoft, various adjacent towns on East Anglia. All murals appeared around 6 August but were confirmed a week later, on 13 August. By doing that Banksy single handedly put dormant English seaside towns back on the global tourism map…
Katwijk Way, Lowestoft, Suffolk
In Lowestoft, Banksy made three murals across the city, including a child building a sandcastle with a crowbar, a seagull flying to eat “chips” from a construction skip, and a rat drinking a cocktail in a deckchair. A gull on the side of a property appeared to try to eat “chips” – made from pieces of insulation material – from a skip. The bird is stenciled in a very elaborate manner, flying over a skip filled with huge carved chips – a reference to the incorrigible bin-picking tendencies of those ferocious urban gulls.
London Road North, Lowestoft
In this mural, Banksy depicts a child building a sandcastle, which is quite a common activity for kids during summer time, but this kid does not play with a bucket and a spade, but with a crowbar… Furthermore, Banksy shows in the video he released that he actually started this work by destroying the pavement beneath. One can believe the artist is referencing the student uprising in Paris in 1968, which had the slogan “sous les pavés, la plage!”, which means “beneath the pavement, the beach”. Of course the fact that the child is using a crowbar can also be seen as a reference to a world of eviction and squatting.
Luxury Rentals Only Crabs, Cromer
On a sea wall in Cromer, Banksy has painted a group of hermit crabs, with one holding a placard reading “Luxury rentals only”. Cromer is known for its crabs while Banksy is known for his animals holding placards, such as his Placard Rats for example. As it is often the case with Banksy, this mural combines humor with a very serious message that refers to homelessness, refugees and the rental market. And of course, it is also a brilliant play on the idea of the hermit, a loner denied access to secure accommodation.
“We’re All on the Same Boat”, Oulton Broad
At Nicholas Everitt Park in Oulton Broad, Suffolk, Banksy has painted three children pretending to be sailors behind a sheet of metal. The mural is accompanied by the quote “We’re all in the same boat” – reminiscent of the quote in Banksy’s original Girl with Balloon mural, “There is always hope”. One child is looking ahead as though out to sea, another child stands behind looking over their shoulder, and a third child at the back of a boat appears to be leaning over the side holding a bucket.
Nicholas Everitt Park, Oulton Broad, Suffolk
The mural, done using Banksy’s characteristic stencil technique, and using the natural contours of the wall for background, depicts three small boys wearing sailor hats made of newspaper and 1930s-era Little Rascals-style clothing. The boat is sinking and the smallest child at the stern bails it out with a bucket. The child at the bow, wearing a sailor costume, gazes ahead through a rolled up newspaper “telescope,” while the middle child grabs hold of the “captain” and anxiously looks behind him to watch the boy bailing out the boat. The boat appears to be sinking fast, but the ship’s small captain seems unconcerned.
Dance-Hall Bus Stop, Great Yarmouth
In Great Yarmouth, Banksy has used the roof of a bus shelter as the floor of a dance hall, and painted several very fine figures at a life-size scale. “Working at life-size scale, we are looking at a painter in his prime. Very few street artists can use stencils as expertly as this; and certainly no-one capable of doing so at speed from a very exposed perch.”
Admiralty Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
The piece is one of two accessible to the public in the Great Yarmouth Borough Council area. A security guard has been visible at the site since Banksy claimed the work and barriers have been placed around the bus stop. A Perspex cover has now been put over the piece. The council thanked Bansky for “all the wonderful art work” and said it was continuing “to celebrate his gifts to the town”.
