Bridge Farm Primary—an elementary school in Bristol, England, was in the process of renaming four school houses. They decided to name one ‘Banksy’ after the world famous anonymous artist.
As a consequence, when school faculty returned from half term break, they were surprised at what they found. On school walls was plastered a life size mural, presumably by the artist returning the favor of having one of the school houses named after him.
The mural was first discovered by the school’s head teacher Geoff Mason. The work was first suspected to be a vandal, but on the mural was signed the artist’s name. Later, a spokesperson for Banksy confirmed that it was the artist’s work.
The Bristol school children who found a surprise from Banksy in their playground today. BBC1 at Six. pic.twitter.com/wMOlb53RfB
— Jon Kay (@jonkay01) June 6, 2016
Along with the mural, Mr. Mason noted that the school received a personal note from Banksy.
#Banksy left this letter for Bridge Farm School. The caretaker found it – with the 14ft painting. pic.twitter.com/w9bqvniKEg
— Jon Kay (@jonkay01) June 6, 2016
After finding the artwork to be genuine, the meaning of the work—a child pushing a burning tire—is another topic of particular interest. Some have taken it to be mean that kids, though innocent, are surrounded by corruption. The imagery of the child pushing the burning tire forward has been taken to mean that they are unknowingly raised to contribute to this corruption.
In any case, the school plans to keep the mural.
“I’m sure it will inspire the children. The staff had to make quite a few calls this morning to make sure nobody cleaned it off,” added Mr. Mason.
