Banksy’s public installation stunts are globally publicized events, and relatively rare. So when I learned that I would be in London when his latest was occurring in Croydon, I planned a day around it. Croydon is not a London tourist destination; it is far removed from the museums and theatres and pageantry of Westminster and the West End, and much more closely aligned to the real lives of real Londoners. Taking over a shop window on an otherwise unassuming corner in Croydon, Banksy’s latest work is ever political. Opposite the street market, with vendors selling trays of fruit for a pound, and shops of varying history. . . next to an enormous Primark and Waitrose and Slug and Lettuce poshy pub and a hip new Box Mall, but also empty storefronts and pound shops. The 5 windows of work display a variety of items that will actually be for sale — from empty paint cans and spray painted televisions, to welcome mats embroidered from the fabric of life jackets washed up on shores after boats of refugees met an untimely and tragic death. Disco balls made into police riot helmets. Stuffed animals lambasted or suffocated, and then mounted like hunting trophies. Each item is accompanied by a write up, as they would be in a gallery or online shop, sardonically describing the item and its intended value for the purchaser. Men dressed in beige trench coats and flat caps stand around the area, providing the attendee — many of whom didn’t look like they had been to Croydon or South London before — an image of safety and security, calling to mind images of friendly doormen at posh Regent or Oxford street department stores. People crowded around the windows, snapping photos, largely unaware of the street around them.
The location was not chosen by accident. Framing this conspicuous relationship to consumerism in the context of gentrification underscores Banksy’s point. Several comments speak to the stealing of ideas, the absence of originality. Banksy has publicly stated that the installation is in response to a card company attempting to infringe on his ownership of the images and work, through exploitation of a loophope in copyright law. It may be this, but it also serves a larger purpose; to remind us that we are all, daily, a part of the capitalist system which not only enables this, but encourages consumption and comfort at the expense of others.
