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Critical Essay of Girl in Pink Dress

V
vidisingh

Banksy created a satirical graffiti artwork on the West Bank Barrier depicting a young girl searching a soldier. The piece aims to ironically portray the roles of Palestinians and Israelis swapped. It highlights the daily hardship Palestinians face with their lands cut off and strict controls at Barrier crossings, while Israelis feel protected by the Barrier. Banksy uses his signature stencil and spray paint technique to create the lifelike figures and convey the theme of switched roles and irony regarding the conflict.

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Vidisha Singh Art Analysis Englands secretive graffiti artist, Banksy decorated the West Bank on the Palestinian side with satirical graffitis portraying ongoing distress between Palestine and Israel. On the 425-mile long Barrier, Banksy produced a graffiti of a girl frisking a solider for any weapons. He created this graffiti in 2005 in Palestine on the West Bank Barrier, which was meant to protect Israel from Palestinians and draw boundary line between those countries, which cuts into Palestine. This painting possibly shows innocence/avenge but its hard to aver the clear message as its rare to stumble across a girl inspecting a soldier, but most definitely its an ironical and satirical piece of work, whose significance is hard to grasp. Interested by the conflict between Palestine and Israel, Banksy established his critical graffiti work on the conflict, showing irony as the friction between Palestine and Israel cannot easily be resolved. Israelis count themselves safer as their territory has important establishments: schools, hospitals, offices, etc but the main point of Israels Barrier is to keep their civilians safe from Palestinians, especially suicide bombers. Whereas for the Palestinians, the Barrier has cut into their lands, separated them from their relatives, schools, workplaces, humanitarian services (water resources, hospitals etc), which complicates their lifestyle. Entering the other side requires a permit, which must be obtained plus the gates are open 3 times/day for 20 minutes but its unpredictable. In Banksys graffiti artwork, he shows a bent girl searching the soldier as if shes the inspector. Hes used satire to show the innocent trying to protect her surroundings by searching page 1
Vidisha Singh the soldier whom might be from the other side or he might have tried to describe the inequality of freedom given to the girls side, as it is shown in a satirical manner. The girl is shown wearing a pink dress, which gives the feeling of innocence and purity, as most commonly pink is associated with a girl- she could be described as girly and youthful. Despite that, the graffiti shows that the girl searching through the soldier for any perilous equipment that might cause chaos, which is not typical for any normal girl to pursue. However, on the other side the soldiers wearing his military uniform with bulletproof vest and a helmet. His stance is in a surrender position- with his hands up and legs inlined with his shoulders. The emotions or any facial expression doesnt seem to be shown, this might have been done purposely for the viewers to create their own conclusion. From the ironic stance of these two symbolic figures, which seems to be swapped- their places and their characteristics as its quite clear that this had been done intentionally to get the viewer to create their own understanding and interpret the graffiti to their logic. Using the same techniques he used to create his other artworks, Banksy used the same method and techniques to create this artwork. He uses stencils and spray paints to make graffitis on the wall, its like his signature style to describe the conflict. Using various types of colors- varying from a colors hues- tints to its shades, he was successfully able to show the textures of the military apparel the soldier was wearing, the pink dress the girl was wearing, the gun and etc. The textures shown in this graffiti painting were shown as corrugated and simulated as if 3D, that might have been the goal to make his painting 3-dimensional. According to the graffiti, the light seems to be appearing from the left, which if it was east its sunrise but if west its sunset. But page 2
Vidisha Singh because of the strong light illuminating both of the characters it is to be believed that the scene is taking place in the morning. This painting has been done like a life-size figure by that means almost real with similar human qualities-especially height and size. Nothing about the characters are exaggerated. Hes represented the two characters by the color they are wearing but their ideals are just swapped. For example, the girls wearing bright colors explaining her young and innocent personality, while the soldier is wearing olive green color describing the dark atmosphere hes been trained in and served to do, but its shown completely opposite. Banksys Pink Dress artwork shows the theme of irony and satire as the characters overall personalitys been switched around but their apparel remains similar to mock itself. His aspect might have been to show the torture and insufficient freedom the girl receives. This whole painting seems to be based on the girl as she seems to play a vital role of retaliating. Overall, Banksy has successful shown his views on the conflict but wanted this painting to be self-interpreted with his technique of using stencil and spray-paints. He centered the irony of the conflict by switching the characters personality and showing the idea of avenge and limited freedom. He centered the girl to represent the population of Palestine but her doings were of Israelis. The artwork expressed the life of Palestinians also showing the extreme security from the Israelis. page 3

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Critical Essay of Girl in Pink Dress

  • 1. Vidisha Singh Art Analysis Englands secretive graffiti artist, Banksy decorated the West Bank on the Palestinian side with satirical graffitis portraying ongoing distress between Palestine and Israel. On the 425-mile long Barrier, Banksy produced a graffiti of a girl frisking a solider for any weapons. He created this graffiti in 2005 in Palestine on the West Bank Barrier, which was meant to protect Israel from Palestinians and draw boundary line between those countries, which cuts into Palestine. This painting possibly shows innocence/avenge but its hard to aver the clear message as its rare to stumble across a girl inspecting a soldier, but most definitely its an ironical and satirical piece of work, whose significance is hard to grasp. Interested by the conflict between Palestine and Israel, Banksy established his critical graffiti work on the conflict, showing irony as the friction between Palestine and Israel cannot easily be resolved. Israelis count themselves safer as their territory has important establishments: schools, hospitals, offices, etc but the main point of Israels Barrier is to keep their civilians safe from Palestinians, especially suicide bombers. Whereas for the Palestinians, the Barrier has cut into their lands, separated them from their relatives, schools, workplaces, humanitarian services (water resources, hospitals etc), which complicates their lifestyle. Entering the other side requires a permit, which must be obtained plus the gates are open 3 times/day for 20 minutes but its unpredictable. In Banksys graffiti artwork, he shows a bent girl searching the soldier as if shes the inspector. Hes used satire to show the innocent trying to protect her surroundings by searching page 1
  • 2. Vidisha Singh the soldier whom might be from the other side or he might have tried to describe the inequality of freedom given to the girls side, as it is shown in a satirical manner. The girl is shown wearing a pink dress, which gives the feeling of innocence and purity, as most commonly pink is associated with a girl- she could be described as girly and youthful. Despite that, the graffiti shows that the girl searching through the soldier for any perilous equipment that might cause chaos, which is not typical for any normal girl to pursue. However, on the other side the soldiers wearing his military uniform with bulletproof vest and a helmet. His stance is in a surrender position- with his hands up and legs inlined with his shoulders. The emotions or any facial expression doesnt seem to be shown, this might have been done purposely for the viewers to create their own conclusion. From the ironic stance of these two symbolic figures, which seems to be swapped- their places and their characteristics as its quite clear that this had been done intentionally to get the viewer to create their own understanding and interpret the graffiti to their logic. Using the same techniques he used to create his other artworks, Banksy used the same method and techniques to create this artwork. He uses stencils and spray paints to make graffitis on the wall, its like his signature style to describe the conflict. Using various types of colors- varying from a colors hues- tints to its shades, he was successfully able to show the textures of the military apparel the soldier was wearing, the pink dress the girl was wearing, the gun and etc. The textures shown in this graffiti painting were shown as corrugated and simulated as if 3D, that might have been the goal to make his painting 3-dimensional. According to the graffiti, the light seems to be appearing from the left, which if it was east its sunrise but if west its sunset. But page 2
  • 3. Vidisha Singh because of the strong light illuminating both of the characters it is to be believed that the scene is taking place in the morning. This painting has been done like a life-size figure by that means almost real with similar human qualities-especially height and size. Nothing about the characters are exaggerated. Hes represented the two characters by the color they are wearing but their ideals are just swapped. For example, the girls wearing bright colors explaining her young and innocent personality, while the soldier is wearing olive green color describing the dark atmosphere hes been trained in and served to do, but its shown completely opposite. Banksys Pink Dress artwork shows the theme of irony and satire as the characters overall personalitys been switched around but their apparel remains similar to mock itself. His aspect might have been to show the torture and insufficient freedom the girl receives. This whole painting seems to be based on the girl as she seems to play a vital role of retaliating. Overall, Banksy has successful shown his views on the conflict but wanted this painting to be self-interpreted with his technique of using stencil and spray-paints. He centered the irony of the conflict by switching the characters personality and showing the idea of avenge and limited freedom. He centered the girl to represent the population of Palestine but her doings were of Israelis. The artwork expressed the life of Palestinians also showing the extreme security from the Israelis. page 3