Bristol boy Banksy unveils latest project
Posted on: 06 Mar 2017The Bristol-born graffiti artist has opened The Walled Off Hotel, a guesthouse in Bethlehem overlooking the wall dividing Israel and Palestine, whose guests will be able to sleep inside a massive work of art.
Banksy has never been one to shy away from controversy. Whether it was in strapping the likeness of a Guantanamo Bay-detainee inside the Disneyland in 2006 or with the creation of his own subversive ‘bemusement park’ Dismaland nearly a decade later, the Bristol-born street artist has continually used clever juxtaposition to invite discomfort, discussion and debate.
Though the elusive provocateur cut his teeth and made his name with a series of stencils on the streets of his hometown, notoriety has allowed him to branch out into more large-scale projects, with his latest installation, opened last week, among his most ambitious in terms of both scope and political statement.
Situated in Bethlehem, ‘The Walled Off Hotel’ is part guesthouse, part art gallery, part protest against the conflict between Israel and Palestine concreted by the border wall which it overlooks. As a result of its location, each of the hotel’s 10 rooms look out onto slabs of concrete and receive less than 25 minutes of sunlight each day, leading to its owner, Wisam Salsaa, stating that it is the hotel with ‘the worst view in the world’.
“Walls are hot right now, but I was into them long before [Donald] Trump made it cool,” said Banksy in a statement, referring to his continued fascination with the West Bank.
Housed within the hotel’s walls are a number of his new, original stencils, as well as artwork by Palestinian artists and a museum documenting the conflict. The rooms themselves reveal a stirring social commentary, with the unsettlingly luxurious presidential suite pertinently contrasting to the room furnished with bunkbeds foraged from an army barracks.
Bookings are being taken from the 11th March, with the hotel opening its doors to guests from the 20th. Head here for more about how to plan your visit.
If you fancy checking out some of Banksy’s work closer to home, have a butchers at our Banksy Virtual Walking Tour of Bristol, an inclusive guide to some the infamous street artist’s formative works.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
