SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A man waits at a bus stop below graffiti art by Banksy on a wall in Great Yarmouth, one of several new works from his road trip in seaside towns portrayed in "A Great British Spraycation." Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Spraycation: Because A Wall Is A Very Big Weapon
Taking a break from the God-awful news - burning planet, dying children, racism unending, earthquakes - to join the "Great English Spraycation" of self-described "overrated graffiti artist" Banksy as he takes his ragged RV through a parade of seaside towns to create his latest marvels of art, wit, rage and joy. As ever, his new works - a panoply of children, dancing, rats, gulls, cranes, hermit crabs denouncing homelessness - simultaneously delight and illuminate our ills, confirming his maxim, "There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place."
Aug 14, 2021
We'll get back to the God-awful news - burning planet, dying children, earthquakes, corruption, the carnage of senseless lost wars, racism unending - which clearly isn't going anywhere. But for now what better way to take a break than joining street artist Banksy as he cruises through a parade of seaside towns in his ragged RV to create his latest marvels of art, wit, rage and joy. Days after reports of a possible string of new Banksy murals across coastal England, the still-anonymous, self-described "overrated graffiti artist" - "Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was" - confirmed the new works are his in a cool-unto-itself video of his "Great English Spraycation." Accompanied by a lively accordion rendition of Dance Monkey by Australian singer Tones & I, Banksy rambles through the modest towns of Lowestoft, Gorleston, Oulton Broad, Cromer, and Great Yarmouth, with fellow-travelers sometimes filming the son of Bristol at his furtive work.
Banksy's themes are very much of the world, with whimsy added: During the early days of COVID, he raised millions for health charities with his Game Changer kid playing with a superhero nurse; his Create Escape mural on the former Reading prison, its inmate escaping down a spool of paper, was a tribute to Oscar Wilde and the power of art from a guy who's argued, "Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing"; locals suspect the spraycation is his way of helping hardscrabble areas win their 2025 UK City of Culture bids. As usual, his wry new pieces - a panoply of rats at play, gulls with chips, cranes plucking, folks dancing, hermit crabs personifying homelessness and kids battling climate change - manage to simultaneously delight and illuminate our ills, confirming his maxim, "There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place." Not everyone values his latest effort: His video drolly includes a cranky older woman declaring it "mindless vandalism." Nevertheless, he persists. "A wall is a very big weapon," he says. "It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
We'll get back to the God-awful news - burning planet, dying children, earthquakes, corruption, the carnage of senseless lost wars, racism unending - which clearly isn't going anywhere. But for now what better way to take a break than joining street artist Banksy as he cruises through a parade of seaside towns in his ragged RV to create his latest marvels of art, wit, rage and joy. Days after reports of a possible string of new Banksy murals across coastal England, the still-anonymous, self-described "overrated graffiti artist" - "Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was" - confirmed the new works are his in a cool-unto-itself video of his "Great English Spraycation." Accompanied by a lively accordion rendition of Dance Monkey by Australian singer Tones & I, Banksy rambles through the modest towns of Lowestoft, Gorleston, Oulton Broad, Cromer, and Great Yarmouth, with fellow-travelers sometimes filming the son of Bristol at his furtive work.
Banksy's themes are very much of the world, with whimsy added: During the early days of COVID, he raised millions for health charities with his Game Changer kid playing with a superhero nurse; his Create Escape mural on the former Reading prison, its inmate escaping down a spool of paper, was a tribute to Oscar Wilde and the power of art from a guy who's argued, "Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing"; locals suspect the spraycation is his way of helping hardscrabble areas win their 2025 UK City of Culture bids. As usual, his wry new pieces - a panoply of rats at play, gulls with chips, cranes plucking, folks dancing, hermit crabs personifying homelessness and kids battling climate change - manage to simultaneously delight and illuminate our ills, confirming his maxim, "There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place." Not everyone values his latest effort: His video drolly includes a cranky older woman declaring it "mindless vandalism." Nevertheless, he persists. "A wall is a very big weapon," he says. "It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with."
We'll get back to the God-awful news - burning planet, dying children, earthquakes, corruption, the carnage of senseless lost wars, racism unending - which clearly isn't going anywhere. But for now what better way to take a break than joining street artist Banksy as he cruises through a parade of seaside towns in his ragged RV to create his latest marvels of art, wit, rage and joy. Days after reports of a possible string of new Banksy murals across coastal England, the still-anonymous, self-described "overrated graffiti artist" - "Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was" - confirmed the new works are his in a cool-unto-itself video of his "Great English Spraycation." Accompanied by a lively accordion rendition of Dance Monkey by Australian singer Tones & I, Banksy rambles through the modest towns of Lowestoft, Gorleston, Oulton Broad, Cromer, and Great Yarmouth, with fellow-travelers sometimes filming the son of Bristol at his furtive work.
Banksy's themes are very much of the world, with whimsy added: During the early days of COVID, he raised millions for health charities with his Game Changer kid playing with a superhero nurse; his Create Escape mural on the former Reading prison, its inmate escaping down a spool of paper, was a tribute to Oscar Wilde and the power of art from a guy who's argued, "Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing"; locals suspect the spraycation is his way of helping hardscrabble areas win their 2025 UK City of Culture bids. As usual, his wry new pieces - a panoply of rats at play, gulls with chips, cranes plucking, folks dancing, hermit crabs personifying homelessness and kids battling climate change - manage to simultaneously delight and illuminate our ills, confirming his maxim, "There's nothing more dangerous than someone who wants to make the world a better place." Not everyone values his latest effort: His video drolly includes a cranky older woman declaring it "mindless vandalism." Nevertheless, he persists. "A wall is a very big weapon," he says. "It's one of the nastiest things you can hit someone with."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.