A new Banksy artwork that was partly dismantled just hours after appearing in Margate has been restored after being “made safe” by the local council. .
The mural, titled Valentine’s Day Mascara, was unveiled by the anonymous graffiti artist in an Instagram post on Tuesday morning. Painted on the side of a building in the seaside town, the work shows a 1950s-style housewife, “complete with kitchen apron and Marigolds”, apparently shoving a man into a real-life chest freezer that was placed beside the wall, Kent Online reported.
The woman has a swollen eye and a missing tooth, suggesting that the “Bristol-born artist is referencing violence against women on Valentine’s Day”, said Sky News.
But while fans and campaigners applauded Banksy for highlighting the issue, the freezer was swiftly removed by Thanet District Council contractors. After returning the chest yesterday following a public outcry, a council spokesperson said it had been “necessary to carry out works to the freezer for health and safety reasons”.
North Thanet MP Roger Gale told the PA news agency that the council’s decision to dismantle the artwork was “heavy-handed”, but added: “If you’ve got something as potentially dangerous as a chest freezer into which a child could climb and suffocate, you actually can’t responsibly just leave it.”
Banksy has won global fame over the past couple of decades through street art that highlights “corruption and inequality in society with a smattering of humour”, said The Sun. Yet the identity of the British artist “still remains one of the greatest mysteries of the 21st century”.
As speculation continues, here is the Margate mural and nine other iconic Banksy works.
