Banksy seemingly confirms he was behind migrant boat stunt at Glastonbury
Banksy at Glastonbury
A migrant boat artwork that recently appeared at the Glastonbury music festival has caught everyone's attention, for both good and bad reasons. While there were rumours that the artwork was a stunt by Banksy, it wasn't confirmed till now. However, Banksy posted a video of the migrant boat on its Instagram channel, appearing to confirm that it was indeed behind the stunt carried out in themiddle of an act at Glastonbury.
The artwork comprised an inflatable boat with dummy migrants sitting on it as it was passed above the crowd of spectators. It appeared in the middle of Idles’ set at Glastonbury on Friday and people in the crowd assumed it to be a part of the set. However, a representative of the band later said that they were unaware of it and had nothing to do with the boat stunt. He further said that it was created by Banksy.
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Notably, the artwork was a reference to the migrant boats that cross the English Channel and have been a major target of Rishi Sunak’s immigration policy.
The song being played on stage at the moment had the lyrics - My blood brother is an immigrant, A beautiful immigrant. So people assumed the dummy migrant boat was part of the set which hinted at criticism of rightwing governance and how empathy was the need of the hour.
The boat made a re-appearance during rapper Little Simz's set at the Pyramid stage on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the little stunt didn't go down well in the political circles. Home Secretary James Cleverly, posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, which read, "Small boats crossings are deadly and have cost the lives of too many people. Festival-goers cosplaying as migrants, and celebrating the actions of people smugglers, while they party is awful. Whatever your political views, this isn't something we should trivialise."
Banksy at other Glastonbury editions
This is not the first time that Banksy has made an appearance at Glastonbury. Stormzywore a Union flag-emblazoned stab-proof vest in 2019 which was designed by Banksy. Earlier, in 2014, a livestock van with cuddly toys coming out of it was also done at Banksy's behest.
Several of his classic stencil artworks have also been seen over the years at Glastonbury. A piece of art made two appearances at the festival, first in 2010 and then in 2022 at the festival’s 50th anniversary.
