A Madonna holding a child: not the usual image that, as we approach Christmas, we might see in some Church or in the effigies around the festively lit streets. Instead, it is the new work of Banksywhose location is unknown. Having appeared for now only on the street artist’s social networks, it is not known where the mural is located or what it really wants to symbolize.
Because if on the surface it seems like a classic sacred image, you just need to lower your gaze for a moment to notice a detail that triggers the curiosity of observers. The female figure in fact has a exposed breast it seems attempt to breastfeed the newborn that he holds in his arms, that however he looks at her dejectedlyas if he were unable to carry out that action necessary for his nourishment. Instead of a nipple, the Madonna has a rusty metal holefrom which water or a liquid has flowed and left behind a dark streak.
Which is real meaning of that imagesweet and melancholic? What does it represent? After the English street artist with an unknown identity published the post with the new work on his official profile, without providing any indication or information on how it should be interpreted, fans went wild on interpretation to give, advancing various hypothesis waiting for some clarification.
Hypotheses on the interpretation of the work
Numerous commentators have drawn connections between the mother’s apparent suffering with the child and the actual suffering war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Stripin particular for the ongoing humanitarian emergency among Palestinian civilians. So that rusty hole could be compared to that of a bullet from which the blood of that young woman came out, a bullet that shattered the life of a mother ready to breastfeed her child. Nascent life and death, hope broken by the cruelty of weapons, a way to make visible what is often ignored by society that turns its head in the face of atrocious reality, instead exploiting the power of the sacred image par excellence. This is a theme that is very dear to Banksy, who in the past had targeted the wall raised by Israel on the border with the Palestinian territory in West Bank.
And again, more generally, col breasts drained of breast milkthe Madonna becomes the heartbreaking image of motherhood put in danger from war and conflicts: by exploiting a pre-existing element of the wall, as the artist has often done in the past, he transformed it into a symbol of violence, almost as if to denounce the wickedness and brutality of the contemporary world which spares no one.
But the moment in which the new mural was made public also raises some questions. Appeared less than ten days before Christmasone wonders why Banksy created it so close to the end-of-year celebrations and whether there is any connection with them. The magic of the holidays, the joy of spending them together with loved ones, the rhetoric of peace and on the other hand a sad and dull Madonna with child, who has lost that glimmer of hope and that aura of sacredness to become living image of human suffering. A warning for posterity? A push to reflect on personal responsibilities and faults? As usual, the street artist managed to hit the mark: to get people talking (about) one of his works.
