NAPALM

Banksy’s disturbing work Napalm reworks a well-known photograph by photojournalist of the Vietnam War, Nick Ut, titled “The Terrors of War.”In the original photograph, a young girl runs from her recently napalmed village. In Banksy’s version, Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald have captured the child, still crying, by her arms.

Napalm is probably one of the most poignant and striking print that Banksy created, cementing his position as one of the pioneering political contemporary artists. This artwork is a striking statement against the military-industrialist complex linking warfare with capitalism that Banksy is criticizing all along his oeuvre. More widely, this work also encapsulates a critique of the sometimes disastrous impact of colonialism, and occupation. Banksy reinvents the Pulitzer Prize-winning image of this 9-year-old girl, fleeing a napalm blast naked in fear. By wittingly adding alongside two icons of American consumer culture, Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald, the artist creates a sickening juxtaposition with the image of Kim screaming in pain from the napalm burns. Napalm comments not just on the horrors of the Vietnam war, but of the then recent US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The comparison of one of the most provocative and horrifying photographs of war with two symbols of American culture highlights the commodification of war.

Year: 2004
Medium: Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Size: 50×70 cm (19 5/8 x 27 1/2 inches)
Publisher: Pictures on Walls

Editions

Signed Edition: 150
Unsigned Edition: 500

Condition : Mint, framed from new