In my previous post I used a photo of some London graffiti by Banksy to illustrate the theme of surveillance. It’s of a child painting an enormous political slogan about Big Brother society on a wall that is being scanned by a real CCTV camera! (See the images below.)
Banksy pulled off an audacious stunt to produce what is believed to be his biggest work yet in central London.
The secretive graffiti artist managed to erect three storeys of scaffolding behind a security fence despite being watched by a CCTV camera.
Then, during darkness and hidden behind a sheet of polythene, he painted this comment on ‘Big Brother’ society.
Yesterday the scaffolding gang returned to remove all evidence – again without the camera operator stopping them.
The work, above a Post Office yard in Newman Street near Oxford Circus, shows a small boy, watched by a security guard, painting the words: ‘One nation under CCTV.’
Andrew Newman, 35, a businessman from Dulwich, who works locally, said: ‘It was only on Sunday morning that the Post Offices guys realised what had happened.’
And then, of course, it got removed, and the camera could get on with its business again:
hi,
thanks for sharing – speaks to the rebel in all of us (I hope).
Me being a social worker in the UK, I can’t help thinking though – this is how abuse in the care system happens: under the eyes of the system – as they are doing their duty, recording.
After the event, an enquiry will decide, looking at the record, that it could not have been predicted.
Removal of Managers equals the whitewash.
(Nota bene: I am not saying Sh.Sh. should not have been sacked. She WAS responsible for the Service.)
Sorry, I hope I have not inadvertently hi-jacked the art work.
If the piece gets removed, I hope and trust the community finds a way of publicising all stages of the event.
I have no opinion on a market value put on art work myself.