Stop and Search, 2007
MISSING ORIGINALS
Medium: Unknown
Dimensions: Unknown
Stop and Search portrays, in monochrome, a storyline with Dorothy (the central character from the Wizard of Oz), her dog, Toto, and a splash of blue in the police officer’s latex gloves. The police officer is searching through Dorothy’s basket and appears to be questioning her about something he has found in her basket.
This print relates to the plot of The Wizard of Oz and suggests that Dorothy and Toto are being prevented from getting home. The purity and naivety associated with the protagonist in the film is embedded within the artwork and only accentuates the absurdity of the search itself. Dorothy is a character representing innocence and freedom, and yet even she is not free from the menacing influence of the state.
Stop and Search illustrates a theme dear to Banksy: defiance towards authority and law enforcement, a topic he revisits in many of his works. For example, a mural by the same name appeared in Palestine in 2013 except that. in this work, it is the school age girl in a pink dress searching the soldier. This is a classic, humoristic twist employed by the artist whereby the roles are reversed to further highlight how unfair, absurd, and excessive he feels the state’s reach has become.
Stop and Search, Glastonbury, 2007
Stop and Search was released in 2007 as print, in a single edition of 500 signed prints.
Stop and Search, 2007
Screen-print in colors on Arches 88 wove paper
76×56 cm (30×22 inches)
Edition: 500 signed
