Many couples celebrate their love on Valentine's Day. The British artist Banksy draws attention to the dark side of many relationships with an artwork - domestic violence.
It's no secret that street artist Banksy has an opinion on many social issues. Over the years, motifs have been discovered that have a direct connection to world events, such as the refugee crisis, the corona pandemic or Russia's war against Ukraine.
The mysterious artist is now using Valentine's Day to draw attention to a problem in many relationships - domestic violence. Just in time for the day of love, three photos of graffiti were published on the Briton's Instagram account. The motif sprayed on a house wall shows a woman in the style of the 1950s.
The woman is wearing an apron and yellow rubber gloves, has a black eye and is missing a tooth. Next to her is a chest freezer that someone apparently dumped on this house wall. Sticking out of it - again in the typical Banksy style, two legs with men's shoes. The picture only allows one conclusion, the woman has just pushed her partner into a freezer.
There's more real junk in front of the wall, including a broken chair and a broken beer bottle. Two close-ups focus on the battered but smiling woman's face. The mysterious artist called the work "Valentine's Day Mascara". According to British media, the title is a reference to the infamous Prohibition-era St. Valentine's Day massacre in 1929, when seven North Side Gang members and associates were shot dead in Chicago.
The exact location of the work was quickly found: on Grosvenor Place in Margate in the southeastern English county of Kent. According to eyewitnesses, the picture was taken on Monday morning. In the meantime, numerous people have turned up there to photograph themselves with the work. After a short time, more than 450,000 users had liked the Instagram entry. "I'm glad she got rid of him," one account commented.
Banksy had previously painted artwork for Valentine's Day. In 2020 he confirmed that he is the author of an artwork that surfaced in Bristol. It showed a girl firing red sprayed ivy flowers from a catapult belonging to him. For this, the artist attached 3D flowers to the wall.
Banksy hails from the western English city of Bristol, but his exact identity is unknown. In his works, he repeatedly addresses social grievances. Most recently, he caused a stir with a series of pictures of war-damaged houses in Ukraine.
