Suddenly in Ukraine! Read the message from Banksy

Is the judoka that the child is throwing down Putin?
New works of art discovered one after another in Borodyanka, a hotly contested area on the outskirts of Kyiv, are making headlines.

Borodyanka, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, has been under heavy fire since shortly after the Russian invasion began. It was one of the fiercest battlegrounds in the recent invasion, with a nine-story apartment building collapsing under shelling and many residents buried alive.

The 13,000 residents are now reduced to a few dozen. Most of the city is in ruins, and reconstruction has not progressed. Then, Banksy, an unidentified artist based in the U.K., announced on Instagram that he had left a work of art in the city.

In fact, since the beginning of November, illustrations that appeared to be by Banksy have been spotted around the city, leading to rumors that Banksy might be in Borodyanka. Moreover, this time some people saw a person who looked like Banksy in the middle of creating a work of art.

Four or five men in work clothes came in a big van and were painting with spray and stencils. The oldest of them, a bearded man in his 40s or 50s, is being talked about as possibly being Banksy,” said a reporter from a national newspaper.

Many of Banksy’s works satirize the world. International journalist Toshihiro Yamada explains the meaning of the sudden appearance of his “new work.

They chose Borodyanka because it is one of the cities that symbolize the destruction and violence caused by the unreasonable Russian military invasion.

A child is throwing a man dressed in judo uniform, who appears to be Vladimir Putin, and a girl who appears to be a rhythmic gymnast is dancing with a ribbon. These works show that Ukraine, with only one-fifth of the pure military strength of Russia, did not succumb to the might of Russia, and that Ukraine is still recovering from the devastation.

According to Yamada, the timing of the release of the film was important.

The timing of the film’s release was important, according to Yamada. “The film is very effective because President Putin is secretly seeking peace in Ukraine. If it had been at a time when the war situation was still uncertain, it could have been criticized. I think Banksy, too, took aim at this time and place to present his work.”

With Banksy’s visit, the devastation of the fierce battle once again came to the world’s attention. Perhaps that is the message to us all, not to forget the unreasonableness of this war.

From the December 2 and 9, 2022 issue of FRIDAY