The rumor had already been circulating for some time… The British artist Banksy put an end to the mystery by posting on the night of Friday to Saturday, on his Instagram account, images of a stencil work painted on a bombed building in Borodianka, near kyiv, thus confirming to be the author.
The stenciled work on the wall of a mutilated building in Borodianka, a locality located a few kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital and which has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian bombardments, represents a gymnast balancing on the rubble . “Borodianka, Ukraine”, simply wrote the famous street artist working under a pseudonym, in caption of the images on his Instagram account.
Several stencil drawings in the kyiv region
“It is a symbol of our unwavering resistance,” Oleksi Savochka, a 32-year-old Ukrainian, said in response to the post. “From the unwavering resistance of our country,” he added.
Another stencil drawing, which Banksy has not confirmed at this stage to be the author, shows a child knocking down a man dressed in judo, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favorite sports. “It’s a child fighting against an adult man and it’s the latter who is defeated,” said a 30-year-old Ukrainian television journalist Bogdan Mashai, showing the work.
A third stencil drawing, which Banksy has not confirmed to be the author, was spotted in Irpin, another very bombed locality and become emblematic of the suburbs of kyiv. A number of Banksy-style stenciled drawings have appeared in and around Kyiv recently, suggesting the artist may be working in the region.