It’s Christmas time, and there’s no need to be afraid, as Paul Young said. Unless you have a phobia of street art, in which case you’d better start quaking in your boots because incorrigible street art maverick Banksy has just posted a mysterious new artwork.
Yesterday (December 16), Banksy posted an image to his Instagram of the Virgin Mary attempting to feed the little baby Jesus from a toxic-looking rusted nipple. The last time he posted a mysterious artwork it was when he was announcing his menagerie of nine animal-themed artworks plonked around London in the summer, so understandably this new post has sent Banksy lovers into conniptions, with fans trying desperately to sniff out where this new artwork is, and what it might mean.
Is it in Bethlehem? Is it a comment on the situation in Gaza? Is it in Slough? Is it a comment on the situation in…. Slough? All plausible theories posited on social media. But one Redditor thinks they have the real answer: this isn’t a new artwork on some secret street corner at all, but instead a framed piece which was for sale at a ‘private’ exhibition in Shoreditch in February. A little bit of digging shows that the work does indeed seem to be a framed work on what looks like metal, as seen in this post.
This isn’t the first time Banksy has tackled the idea of the Virgin Mary’s off milk. A 2003 screenprint called ‘Toxic Mary’ shows the virgin mother attempting to feed the infant messiah from a bottle with a skull and crossbones on it, which seems like negligent parenting at best. Anyway, I’m sure Jesus turned out just fine. Merry Christmas from Banksy.
Here are all the Banksys you can actually still see in London.
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