Banksy unveils new ‘Valentine’s Day Mascara’ artwork
British graffiti artist Banksy on Tuesday unveiled his latest UK street artwork, which appears to take aim at domestic violence against women as the world celebrates Valentine’s Day.
The mural, which has appeared in Margate in southeast England, depicts a 1950s-style housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a chest freezer.
The elusive Banksy, whose true identity remains unconfirmed, posted three images of his latest work — which he entitled “Valentine’s Day Mascara” — on his Instagram account.
Two of the images were close-ups showing the woman, wearing a blue pinafore and yellow washing up gloves, smiling but seemingly with a battered face.
The street artist, known to hail from Bristol in southwest England, has been busy producing and selling dozens of limited edition screen prints to raise funds to support civilians affected by the war in Ukraine.
The 50 prints, which show a mouse sliding down the side of a box with “FRAGILE” printed on it, were sold in December for £5,000 ($6,100) each, through the charity Legacy of War Foundation.
Their online auction attracted thousands of “hostile” web attacks launched from Russian internet addresses, the charity said at the time.
The artist also confirmed last month that he was behind seven murals that appeared on destroyed buildings around Kyiv last year.