World-famous but still-anonymous street artist Banksy was recently active in London, applying more of their signature stencils to walls, windows and assorted infrastructure around the city. Over nine days, they added nine animals to the urban landscape—one per day—before posting photos of each new creature to Instagram without comment. The growing menagerie prompted not only gleeful scavenger hunting by dedicated fans of the artist hoping to be first to find the day’s new animal but also wild speculation about what message Banksy might be trying to convey with the project. Perhaps solidarity with Palestine? Or a commentary on man’s impact on nature? Midway through the street art spree, however, Banksy’s Pest Control Office reportedly told the Guardian that people were reading too much into the whimsical yet recondite renderings of animals.
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Those still hoping to find deeper meaning in Banksy’s graffito zoo should go and check out what they can while they can. Protecting Banksy artworks, which are both exposed to the elements and accessible to the public, can be logistically challenging as well as expensive, leading some property owners whose buildings have been “Banksied” to excise the artwork for storage or sale or to simply paint over it (as a way to avoid any hassle or expense). Of the nine Banksy animals in London, only seven are still on display, and two of the works that remain have been defaced while a third is slated to be removed for preservation.
Now that the artist’s animal farm seems to be complete, here’s take a look at the status of all nine.
Many have theorized that the goat on a wall near Kew Bridge in........