Banksy stencil of masked protester throwing bouquet of flowers

Banksy

1990cultural figureclassic

Published August 16, 2026

Banksy is the pseudonym of an anonymous English street artist whose stencil pieces and staged art pranks made him a fixture of internet meme culture from the early 2000s onward. He is known for politically charged imagery, unsanctioned installations and viral stunts like the 2018 Sotheby's shredding of Girl with Balloon.

fine art memes protest memes political satire memes hidden identity memes british memes

Overview

Banksy is the pseudonym of an anonymous English street artist whose stencil pieces and staged art pranks made him a fixture of internet meme culture from the early 2000s onward1. His trademark work is guerrilla stencil pieces on public walls in London, Brighton, Bristol and even along the West Bank barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians, and he counts collectors like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Christina Aguilera among his buyers1.

The mystery of who Banksy really is has fueled tabloid speculation for over two decades1. The Daily Mail claimed in 2008 to have unmasked him as Bristol native Robin Gunningham, though the artist has never confirmed it and even his own agent has told journalists he is not certain of the identity1. Recognizable Banksy pieces include Girl with Balloon, a masked rioter tossing a bouquet of flowers, and a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier at the West Bank wall2.

Origin & Background

Platform
Street walls in Bristol (early works) / Banksy.co.uk (online spread)
Date
1990

Banksy started out as a freehand graffiti writer in Bristol during the early 1990s, painting alongside other local artists before shifting to stencils around the turn of the century4. The stencil technique let him execute more detailed images at speed and helped him work outdoors without getting caught, and it became the visual signature that made him famous. His official site Banksy.co.uk went live on March 4, 2000, giving him a direct channel to publish and claim new pieces outside the traditional gallery system4. Between 2005 and 2007 he stenciled a series of scenes on the Israeli-Palestinian barrier in the West Bank, including a ladder reaching over the wall, a girl body-searching an armed soldier, and a hole in the concrete painted to reveal a tropical beach1.

How It Spread

Banksy opened a New York residency titled 'Better Out Than In' on September 28, 2013, launching the site Banksy NY to document a new city piece every day for the month of October4. The @banksyny Twitter account and matching Instagram feed went live on October 1 and pulled over 14,000 followers in the first week. On October 13 he set up an unmarked stall near Central Park selling original signed stencils for $60 apiece to unsuspecting tourists, then posted a hidden-camera video of the day to YouTube where it drew over two million views in the first 24 hours4.

In June 2017 Banksy tried to intervene in the UK general election by offering a free print of a union-flag-shaded Girl with Balloon to any voter in six Bristol-area constituencies who could photograph a ballot cast against the Conservative candidate3. Avon and Somerset police opened an investigation and the Electoral Commission warned the stunt could invalidate the local results, so Banksy pulled the offer two days later with a mock 'product recall' notice on his site3.

The Banksy stunt that broke through hardest online happened on October 5, 2018, when a framed print of Girl with Balloon sold at Sotheby's in London for £1,042,0002. Seconds after the hammer dropped, a shredder built into the frame started slicing the canvas into vertical strips as bidders watched, in a moment Sotheby's contemporary head Alex Branczik summed up on the floor as 'it appears we just got Banksy-ed'2. Banksy posted a photo of the half-shredded piece to Instagram captioned 'going, going, gone', and art broker Joey Syer told The Economist the shredded canvas may have doubled in value overnight5.

How to Use This Meme

Banksy is not a template meme, so 'using' Banksy generally means sharing photos of newly-appeared pieces on Instagram and Twitter, remixing his imagery in fan art, or referencing his stunts as shorthand for anti-establishment art humor4. When a new wall piece surfaces, tourists typically photograph it within hours before local authorities decide whether to shield the work behind Perspex or paint over it. Costumes based on the Molotov flower thrower and Girl with Balloon regularly show up on subreddits like /r/pics, and the shredded frame moment gets re-shared on art anniversaries every October2.

Frequently Asked Questions