Exactly one week ago Banksy, the famous graffiti artist from Bristol whose identity is still unknown, gave the world his latest artistic provocation. His “Christmas” work appeared on the wall of a garage in the town of Port Talbot, Wales: a child in winter clothing with a sleigh in tow, turns his eyes and mouth up to taste the snow falling from the sky, a scene which seems to catapult us into the most evocative and traditional Christmas atmosphere, but just around the corner we understand that nothing is as it seems. On the adjacent wall Banksy portrays a burning garbage can and a thick cloud of smoke studded with small flakes of ash. What at first glance may seem white snow, therefore, is actually far from it. With this new work, the artist tackles a very important environmental issue for the 30,000 inhabitants of Port Talbot: the city is, in fact, renowned for its steel mills, but also for being one of the most polluted places in the entire United Kingdom.
Last July the houses and cars of all the neighboring neighborhoods were covered with a copious rain of black dust.
The video published on Bansky’s Instagram profile conveys and packs with a bitter snow flake a powerful message of criticism against that system which, in order to continue to produce, does not hesitate to jeopardize the health of citizens.