Banksy’s notable Giza painting was of the Greek goddess Niobe, painted as weeping for her dead child. The image was painted on Darduna’s wooden door that once belonged to his home, now left in ruins in the war-torn city of Gaza.
According to the United Nations, the property of the Darduna family was part of the 18,000 homes that were destroyed during last year’s 50-day war between Gaza and Israel. Over 110,000 people were forcibly displaced from their homes.
“It was a two-story building but only the door was left standing,” says Mr Darduna. “Then a young, foreign man came and painted on it.” They convinced him they were acting on behalf of the artist and wanted to buy the door, as it was part of a series of works. “One man told me: ‘We’re from the group that did it.’ They made me sign a paper. It said I agreed on 700 shekels. They pressured me and I accepted because I need the money.”
Currently, 20 members of the Darduna family are living in a “cramped, rented apartment, sharing just two bedrooms.”
Banksy is a British graffiti artist who has become famous for his anti-authoritian works of art painted in public places. The image in Gaza is now on Banksy’s website. The anonymous artist is known as a political activist, film director and painter of some of the highest priced social commentaries in the world.
The photo-realistic urban street images of art created by Banksy usually respond to some form of social commentary. Highly illegal, this has forced the most famous artist alive to remain behind a hidden identity.
His [Banksy} satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy’s work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.
Banksy painted a message on one of the Giza walls before he left the Palestine territory. “If we wash our hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless we side with the powerful – we don’t remain neutral.”
