Blinded by the Flag – New Banksy Statue in Central London

A new work of art by Banksy appeared overnight (29 April) in London’s Waterloo Place.  It depicts a man marching, his chest pumped in patriotic pride, holding his nation’s flag aloft.  Unfortunately for him, the flag has blinded him, swathing itself around his head so that he has no idea in which direction he is marching.  As luck wouldn’t have it, he is marching proudly towards an abyss (or in this case off the plinth).  It’s a strikingly simple visual metaphor, but one with great premonitory depth. Image

As ever with Banksy, the work of art arrived without  notification or fanfare – although he has now confirmed on Instagram that he created it.   It is situated in Waterloo Place, in the St James are of the borough of Westminster.  The location is craftily chosen for such an anti-imperialist piece, as Waterloo Place is littered with statues commemorating Britain’s past habit of stepping foot into countries without invitation.  You do not have to walk far to encounter statues of Florence Nightingale (and the Crimean War Memorial) as well as one of Edward VII.  The artist, who remains anonymous not just because that’s how it has always been but because he has been the target of threatening extremist behaviour, obviously thought long and hard about where to place the statue.

The statue in gold you can see behind Banksy's piece is one of Athena (also known as Minerva), the goddess of both wisdom and war.  She seems, almost, to be greeting the new statue - to acknowledge, perhaps, the inherent contradiction of wisdom and war.

There has, of course, been speculation around the identity of the man represented by the sculpture.  Some have suggested that it is a certain incumbent US President.  Photographer Norman Craig added pithily to this: “Hopefully it will end up as the centre piece of Trump's new ballroom although Banksy will have to fatten up the figure so that we all know it's Donald”.  Although the conjecture is fun, it is much more likely (in my opinion!) that Banksy meant this to represent the lot of us – a response to the rise in nationalism both in the UK and across the world.  We know from history where it leads – but here we are, doing the “blind patriotism” thing all over again.

No one can say how long the statue will be in place – but apparently the local council (Westminster) is already taking  “steps to protect the statue” – and although we’re not sure exactly what that means, there are no current plans to have the statue removed.  Although I am sure that many will see this statue as an affront to British imperial history, just as many will see this as a sign that free speech (at least in a visual format) is still very much alive in the UK and long may it march on.