Banksy's Gaza Kitty Mural and Walled Off Hotel Sculpture Explained
Banksy's 2015 Gaza intervention included the mural 'Gaza Kitty,' depicting a playful kitten with a bow batting a ball of twisted metal on a destroyed building. Released via the satirical film 'Make this the year YOU discover a new destination,' the work critiques internet attention economies by using cute imagery to highlight destruction in Gaza. The mural contrasts innocence with ruin, turning wreckage into an object of play. Banksy later produced a Walled Off Hotel wall-section sculpture titled 'Gaza Kitty … I Want My Ball Back,' a painted concrete cast resin piece (approx. 13 × 12.7 × 8 cm) from circa 2018–2019, purchased from the Bethlehem hotel. The sculpture extends the mural's political charge into a portable object, with provenance including original hotel invoice. The work remains relevant after Gaza's devastation since 2023.
Key facts
- Banksy painted 'Gaza Kitty' in Gaza in 2015.
- The mural shows a kitten playing with a rusted metal ball on a destroyed building.
- It was released via the film 'Make this the year YOU discover a new destination.'
- Banksy stated: 'on the internet people only look at pictures of kittens.'
- A Walled Off Hotel sculpture titled 'Gaza Kitty … I Want My Ball Back' was produced circa 2018–2019.
- The sculpture is a painted concrete cast resin wall-section, approx. 13 × 12.7 × 8 cm.
- The sculpture includes original Walled Off Hotel invoice provenance.
- The Walled Off Hotel opened in Bethlehem in 2017.
Entities
Artists
Institutions
- GraffitiStreet
- Walled Off Hotel
- Pictures on Walls
Locations
- Gaza
- Bethlehem
- Palestine
- West Bank