banksy confirms authorship of new pieces that dot the coast of england

in a video on his instagram dubbed ‘a great british spraycation,’ banksy confirms that he is indeed the author of a string of works along the coastal towns of england. they had begun appearing earlier this month, leading to days of speculation whether the enigmatic street artist had come through. the stenciled pieces, along with a few sculptural interventions, appeared in the towns of lowestoft, gorleston, oulton broad, cromer, and great yarmouth. as is common with the street artist’s work, the pieces show whimsical imagery with undertones that are solemn and didactic — environmental, social, and economic themes are rendered through the playful lens of seaside leisure. in the video’s title image, which has already been defaced, a rat lounges on the sands of lowestoft enjoying a cocktail positioned beneath a drainage pipe, the wall stained with leaking waste. watch the full video on instagram here.

UPDATE (08/17/2021): the great yarmouth borough council has removed banksy’s mural at the gorleston model yacht pond amid ‘sensitivity’ to a girl’s death nearby. as the BBC reports, the local authority said the move was ‘the right decision, respecting local people and feelings’. the three-year-old girl died on gorleston beach, norfolk, in 2018, after the inflatable trampoline she was on burst.

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banksy takes viewers on a tour of his new works up the east coast of england, a journey he calls ‘a great british spraycation.’ the stenciled pieces are often integrated with repurposed objects from the area, highlighting the pre-planned and perfectly positioned nature of the work. in lowestoft, a massive seagull dines on a box of ‘chips’ rendered by a dumpster filled with insulation material. nearby a child is depicted building a sandcastle with a crowbar, fronted by a mound of sand on the pavement. university bournemouth’s professor paul gough tells the BBC that the artist may be referencing a 1968 student uprising in paris, which had the slogan ‘sous les pavés, la plage!,’ or ‘beneath the pavement, the beach’ — questioning whether the ‘crowbar is a reference to a world of eviction and squatting.’ this theme is of course more evident in cromer, norfolk as a group of ‘unhoused’ hermit crabs face one crab holding a sign which reads ‘luxury rentals only.’

bottom of links hill, north beach, lowestoft | images courtesy of banksy

some works of banksy’s great british spraycation are more subtle than others. at the merrivale model village in great yarmouth, a new tiny model stable has appeared, fronted by a little rat atop a cart wheel reads the graffitied tagline ‘go big or go home.’ the village has since enclosed the new miniature within a protective glass box and shows it to visitors only between 1pm and 3pm. meanwhile in oulton broad’s nicholas everitt park, a trio of children are shown in stencil aboard a capsizing (physical, recycled) rowboat, with the tagline ‘we’re all in the same boat.’ according to oulton broad parish council, the metal boat has been temporarily removed as it blocks a drain, and the area expects rain soon.

katwijk way, lowestoft, suffolk