Comments on: Banksy tags Birmingham

By: C. Lockhart

C. Lockhart — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:06:19 +0000

I am not surprised that members of the Ensley community were upset by this work. While it is (in my opinion) a well-done and seemingly well-contemplated indictment of an issue that continues to plague not only the city of Birmingham, but the entirety of the Southeastern region of the United States, even of the United States itself. But even more specifically, it specifically targets the state of Alabama as the center of a culture obsessed with race. It’s something that we want to keep in the past yet remains an disgustingly enduring aspect of Alabama society, culture, and thought. Though we try to keep it in the past, it is altogether present, and this piece by Banksy, while its message seems clear, it brings the issue front and center and casts a spotlight on it–something Alabamians have been trying to avoid for decades. Perhaps it’s not the message that is so disturbing; may it is is more about having to face the issue head-on. That, and the fact that the fear of retaliation is still very real and is not unfounded, considering that racial tension continues to permeate every crevice of the state, makes me think that this may not have been the best of places to display such a piece. Maybe in a museum of modern art or a similar place of artistic exhibition would have been better, but I do not believe that the streets of Ensley was the best choice for Banksy to place this.

By: urbanfabric

urbanfabric — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:55:35 +0000

I’m so upset that I wasn’t able to see Bankys work here in Birmingham. I can understand why some people who are not aware of his work might find this piece visually upsetting, but if you do understand how bankys views the world you will see that irony plays a huge roll in his work. Goolge Bankys work on the Palestine “security” wall to see what I mean.\
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For any other street artist out there I’m setting up a gallery show for next year at UAB. Interested parties please shoot me an email and I’ll give you more info.\
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Ken_UF

By: John

John — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:28:00 +0000

“The Klansman, by contrast, seems alarmingly blunt \’97 a cheap critique of a city that is desperately trying to keep its racist past as just that, the past.”\
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The Ensley residents who were reticent to discuss the work and thought it would cause conflict point to a Birmingham that still has plenty of racial issues to deal with.\
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Were the stencil denigrating the confederate flag or some other symbol that segments of society still hold as legitimate, I could understand the residents’ fears, but a clansman?! If this is a controversial image we’ve got big problems.\
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Kudos to Banksy for pointing them out.