The Shipwrecked Child" by Banksy

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I have chosen to present the work « The Shipwrecked Child" by Banksy. This work is a tag made in May 2019, in Venice during the inauguration of the International Art Biennale. It is on the wall of a house for sale on the Rio Nuovo near Campo Santa Margherita in Dorsoduro in Venice. we will start with you talking about who Banksy is and how he did his work and then we will present the shipwrecked Child with its context and the message that Banksy wanted to convey.

The first, who is Banksy? Banksy is the pseudonym of an unknown person who was probably born in 1974 in Bristol, England. He is an important artist of street painting "street art". His work concentrates on current issues like migrants, violence, war and exploitation... For her work  The Shipwrecked Child, Banksy uses stencils manufactured and previously cut. The artist plans and then realizes his work in a few minutes during the night. He places the stencils on the wall and then sprays black, white and some other colors. Black creates the shape of the image and white the three dimensions while color highlights the details of the artwork.

The Shipwrecked Child by Banksy. represents a child with a lifejacket who is standing and raising his right arm holding a flare that releases pink smoke, as those used at sea in case of sinking. The hair in the wind, the child seems to be staring at someone or something thing, maybe an NGO ship or a helicopter patrol. She goes behind him and leaves a big trace on the wall. The child’s feet but also part of his legs are immersed in the water of the canal, which suggests that he sank. He is a shipwrecked man who is asking for help. The child is therefore standing at the same height as the boats sailing on the canal. Banksy did not choose this place at random. First, so that passers-by on the bridge can see «Banksy’s migrant child» while walking. Second, because many taxis use this area, each passage of their boat causes waves that are thrown on the child’s legs. This phenomenon gives the impression that the work is alive, active and not immobile. The child is standing (vertically) in contrast to the water (horizontally). s. The profound meaning of this artistic operation has only surfaced a few days later, when Venice found itself under the waters of aqua Alta, an astronomical phenomenon and weather that causes tides and flooding of the city, especially during the fall and spring. This natural rise of the waters revealed the child’s sense of work and political function. On May 18 at 11.30 pm, after a few hours spent at sound of sirens at the height of the flood, the graffiti gave to see something decisive. Always impassive, with an outstretched arm to hold the smoke whose plume continued to escape, the child was now underwater up to half body. A few centimeters and water would have reached the neck, as was the case a few months morelate, November 12, 2019, with the exceptional acqua alta that dramatically flooded the city. Watching graffiti at acqua alta arouses a sudden association from which emerges a rich reading social and political implications. Placed at this point accurate of the city, just above the water level, the child becomes, by its size, a measuring meter the water overflow level, as found along rivers, in urban centres, or in places subject to high tides.

Working towards this child, these are the figures “climate refugee” and “refugee environment” which appear in the foreground, for background conflicts that disrupt parts of the world and resource intensive development. This is not the first times Banksy uses the water line to push us to become aware causes and effects of climate change, in DON’T BELIEVE IN GLOBAL WARMING, made along a London canal in 2009.

For me, this work has made me reflect on the urgency of climate change and the fact that there will be more and more migration.

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