Author James Baldwin famously said “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
As I wandered through a Banksy exhibit in London a couple of days ago, I was struck by the bluntness and passion he has brought to his decades of graffiti art. Never having seen so much of it presented in the same place, I had never thought about how much he has to love humanity to be so unsparing in his critique of it. I can’t think of any other artist or philosopher who so fiercely lays bare the insanity of our age.
American consumerism and militarism, in particular, receive deserved condemnation. But we’re hardly alone in being put under his microscope; all of modernity is skewered for what we are doing to each other, to children particularly, and to the earth. What makes Banksy so phenomenal, however, is his clear insistence that things don’t have to be this way. He’s not doing all this to make us hate ourselves; he’s doing this to inspire us to create a better world.
I left the exhibit just grateful he’s out there, whatever his actual name is these days. May he remain as anonymous as possible, as prolific as ever, and a continuing prophetic voice in our midst. It can’t always be easy living inside that man’s head.
If you’re anywhere near London, make it over to Old Brompton Road to see the exhibit. Such living genius is not to be missed.
