ANGELS ON THE WALL

Opening the Wall

Created in December 2017, Angels on the Wall depicts two winged cherubs attempting to force apart the concrete slabs of the West Bank barrier. One figure works from a ladder while the other reaches down from above, both concentrating their efforts on the narrow vertical opening between two sections of concrete. Banksy incorporates the physical construction of the barrier directly into the composition, transforming an existing architectural joint into the opening the angels are attempting to enlarge.

The choice of angels carries particular significance in Bethlehem, the city traditionally associated with the Nativity. Banksy takes figures belonging to Christian religious imagery and gives them a practical task: rather than announcing peace or observing events from above, they are physically trying to create a passage through the wall. The contrast between their light, airborne bodies and the massive concrete structure reinforces the tension between spiritual ideals of freedom and reconciliation and the physical reality of separation.

The mural also develops an idea that had been central to Banksy's first major intervention in Palestine in 2005. Works such as Window on the West Bank, Beach Boys and Art Attack imagined openings through the barrier onto landscapes, beaches and unrestricted spaces beyond. Twelve years later, Banksy returns to the possibility of opening the wall, but the imagined aperture has become an act of physical effort. The concrete itself remains an essential component of the artwork rather than simply its support.

The Walled Off Hotel and The Alternativity

The mural was created in connection with the Walled Off Hotel, which Banksy had opened in Bethlehem earlier in 2017 immediately beside the separation barrier. Conceived simultaneously as a functioning hotel, art installation and political intervention, the project described itself as having the “worst view of any hotel in the world.” Its rooms, museum, gallery and public spaces encouraged visitors to engage directly with the history and contemporary realities of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

In December 2017, the hotel became the center of The Alternativity, an alternative Nativity production developed in Bethlehem with local performers and co-directed by Palestinian artist Riham Isaac and British filmmaker Danny Boyle. Banksy's new murals extended the project beyond the hotel itself and into the surrounding urban environment. In this context, the angels acquire an additional association with the traditional Christmas story while replacing conventional devotional imagery with a contemporary image of Bethlehem divided by concrete.

Angels on the Wall consequently belongs to a longer continuity within Banksy's work in Palestine. The imagery is accessible and deliberately simple, but its meaning depends upon the specific place in which it was created: the religious history of Bethlehem, the contemporary barrier and Banksy's continuing engagement with both since 2005.