World-renowned street artist Banksy is known “for fearlessly breaking boundaries and provoking political debate,” but Banksy’s newest anti-racism artwork has been destroyed,” reports The Huffington Post.
The mural in question was painted in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, UK and depicted several gray pigeons holding anti-immigration signs, presumably directed at a lone, bright-green migratory bird.
However, when the Tendering District Council received a single complaint that the piece was “racist,” they scrubbed the political statement from city walls.
The mural was intended to be tongue-in-cheek jab at the populist party UKIP’s stance on immigration and had been universally praised by critics. There has been an outpouring of public dissent regarding its destruction, especially with the close proximity of local elections.
MP Douglas Carswell defects to #UKIP. #Banksy makes his feelings known. Please do not feed the racists. No, really… pic.twitter.com/2ObrLJ3kwN
— Martin Powell (@spokenwordnerd) October 2, 2014
Painting over the Clacton #Banksy? Does nobody understand satire any more? http://t.co/rmuciBcvdn pic.twitter.com/E3b3vkavUE
— Morten Øverbye (@morten) October 2, 2014
Clacton-on-Sea council have destroyed Banksy art that was clearly not racist. It was social commentary you cretins! Is it book burning next?
— Sarah Hodgson (@SarahH9977) October 2, 2014
“If this picture scared anyone it must be because the pigeons’ views are just too close to real opinions in the air – the satire is so accurate that it can be mistaken for reality,” commented The Guardian’s art critic Jonathan Jones.
A spokesman for the Tendering District Council commented that they would love for the street artist to return and paint a new mural, one with a more “appropriate” message.
Ironically, Banksy had completed another mural earlier in the week, titled “Art Buff,” showing an elderly woman contemplating a censored image. Based on his refusal to remove images of the uncensored Essex mural from his website, it’s safe to assume he won’t be painting in Essex any time soon.