A new Banksy mural appeared on Sunday in London’s Finsbury Park. The piece, on a white wall behind a real cherry tree with cut branches and missing leaves, features a figure holding a pressure hose with green paint sprayed across to represent the missing foliage. This latest work by the elusive artist was confirmed on his Instagram account on Monday.
The mural has been interpreted as a stark commentary on environmental degradation. Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour Party leader who has represented Islington North in Parliament since 1983, told the Associated Press that the new work “makes people stop and think, ‘Hang on. We live in one world. We live in one environment. It is vulnerable and on the cusp of serious damage being done to it.’” Banksy’s last confirmed work was found in south London in December 2023—a stop sign featuring three military drones. Shortly after, a man was photographed removing the work with bolt cutters.
In recent years, demand for Banksy work has continued to grow, with both his auction record and print market steadily increasing. In 2018, Girl with Balloon (2006) fetched £1 million ($1.4 million) at Sotheby’s before being partially destroyed by a hidden shredder in the frame. Then, in 2021, the partially shredded work, retitled Love is in the Bin (2018), sold again at Sotheby’s for nearly 20 times its pre-shredded price at £18.6 million ($25.4 million), setting the artist’s current auction record.
