Banksy confirms he created artwork on the walls of Reading Prison

UPDATE 5/3: Banksy has confirmed he created the artwork and shared a video on Instagram documenting the process.

Watch it below.

Original story on 2/3:

A possible Banksy artwork has appeared on the external walls of Reading Prison.

The painting - depicting a man scaling down the wall in prisoners' clothing - looks very much like a Banksy piece, although the artist is yet to claim it as his. The man's rope is actually made from typewriter scroll, with the typewriter beneath the man's body.

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People reckon it might be a depiction of poet Oscar Wilde, who was once incarcerated at the prison, which is now closed. Wilde was imprisoned there on charges of gross indecency with other men and later wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a poem about a hanging at the prison while he was there.

Banksy's hula-hooping girl was recently moved from the side of a residential property in Nottingham, angering locals who wanted it to stay. That artwork was taken away to be restored having been purchased by a gallery owner in Essex.

The street artist also claimed responsibility for the sneezing woman mural in Bristol.

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He was active in 2020, sharing an artwork supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, turning his bathroom into an artwork and financing a refugee rescue boat.

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Commercial Content Editor, follow him on Twitter

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