Banksy debuts new mural in London as The Walled Off Hotel reopens in Bethlehem

The anonymous street artist Banksy has claimed credit for a new black-and-white mural in London that shows two children dressed in winter wear stargazing and pointing at the sky.

Banksy posted two photos of the mural, painted over a garage, on Instagram without captions.

An identical mural attributed to the artist was painted at the foot of a tower in central London, according to the Associated Press, but Banksy did not post images of it to his account.

Banksy’s work has often, but not always, made pointed socioeconomic and political commentary with his work. Whether a political message is present in the latest work could not be determined.

Still, the artwork has seemingly had a much stronger positive response from the public than 2024’s series of murals depicting zoo animals across London, with nearly 1.2 million likes on Instagram Saturday, five days after it was shared.

The mural came about a week after Banksy’s The Walled Off Hotel, a guesthouse in Bethlehem, Palestine, announced it had reopened more than two years after the Israel-Hamas war broke out in Gaza.

Urgent Matter has reached out to hotel manager Wisam Salsaa with a list of questions but did not receive a response back by press time.

Salsaa shared a post to his Instagram Stories on Saturday, inviting members of the public to the opening of a group exhibition titled “Escape” at the guesthouse. Below is the translation of the text:

The show’s opening was supported by Palestine’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Hani Al-Hayek and Culture Minister Imad Hamdan.