Natural adventures

It feels odd posting this Banksy piece from the comfort of a Marrakesh hotel room only a couple of weeks after photographing it. I took the pictures in the dark on a cold night walking to a football match with my son after seven hours of driving. It was my son who spotted the famous piece painted last year, and in the spirit of taking pictures, no matter what the conditions, I managed to get these unusual snaps.

I had wondered where this piece was, but love the fact that we accidentally walked past it rather than sought it out. The misty night scene adds a different perspective on the piece, which was a clever work by Banksy, who replaced the foliage of a tree on the wall behind it, after it had been heavily cut back.

In the bottom left of the piece is a stencil figure with a spray gun in his hands who presumably had been spraying the foliage on the walls. The figure is now behind Perspex. Last year was a good year for the Bristol born artist, and maybe on future trips to the old smoke I’ll find some of his animals from 2024. Arsenal won a tricky match against Ipswich 1-0, so overall a good day out.