Banksy in New Orleans

Just before the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, celebrated street artist Banksy visited New Orleans and left his mark. All quotes are from Banksy and are taken from his website.

'I came to New Orleans to do battle with the Grey Ghost, a notorious vigilante who's been systematically painting over any graffiti he can find with the same shade of grey paint since 1997. Consequently he's done more damage to the culture of the city than any section five hurricane could ever hope to achieve.'

























'Three years after Katrina I wanted to highlight the state of the clean-up operation. Only later did it dawn on me that if you choose to do this by drawing all over their stuff, you're actually only slowing down that clean-up operation.'

One of the most striking pieces depicts a pair of soldiers looting a house. I interpret this as an attempt to convey the view that, as the street-level representatives of the will of the state, Banksy believes the government bears a large amount of responsibility for the events that transpired following Hurricane Katrina - which included widespread looting. Or, perhaps he is saying that during a true disaster, even the most responsible and respected of people can and will regress toward crime, presenting really quite a bleak and hopeless outlook. I have also come across several claims that National Guard troops were caught looting - which suggests the meaning behind this piece could be more direct. Either way, it's typically anti-establishment and unmistakably Banksy.











'I looked out the window of the taxi on the drive into New Orleans and remarked 'There's still so much devastation - I can't believe they haven't cleaned this mess up' - to which the driver stared at me and said 'this part of the city wasn't affected by the hurricane - it's always looked like this.''











I've always admired Bansky and have recently been taking a keener interest in both his and the work of other graffiti artists. Anyone looking to broaden their horizons on the subject should take a look at 12ozPROPHET.