Banksy posted a mysterious work today (16 December) on Instagram, the image showing a breastfeeding mother and baby, strongly referencing traditional depictions of the Madonna and Child. The woman’s breast appears punctured by the rusted metal on which the painting sits, while the child is seemingly distressed.
The street artist’s Instagram post, which appeared at around 2pm, gives no indication as to the location of this latest work, or any information about how it should be interpreted.
Social media users, however, rushed to offer their own thoughts on the work. A number of commenters drew links between the apparent suffering of the mother, the city of Bethlehem—located within Palestine’s West Bank—and the current Israel-Hamas war.
Another user offered a different interpretation, asking: “Could this imply a mother’s lifestyle choices impact the milk she feeds to her baby who has no choice but to accept it? Or perhaps that the chemicals in our food go directly from mother to baby through breastfeeding?”
The post is the first to appear on the artist’s Instagram account since August this year, when he completed his series of nine animal-themed works. This series included a goat, two elephants, three swinging monkeys, a howling wolf, a stretching cat, pelicans, a shoal of piranhas, a car-mounting rhino and a gorilla seemingly leading an escape from London Zoo.
This latest work is not the first time the street artist has seemingly referenced the Virgin and Child. The 2003 work Toxic Mary shows a Madonna figure feeding a baby from a bottle marked with a skull and crossbones. Paint drips across this Renaissance-inspired image as though it were melting.
UPDATE 17 DECEMBER: Rumours, apparently originating from posts on this forum, have begun circulating online that this may not be Bansky's latest public work, but instead a piece that was offered for sale in February 2024. The mystery continues.
Banksy, through his company Pest Control, has been approached for comment.
