PARIS: Banksy is believed to have taken his message on migration to Paris, which has seen seven works attributed to the provocative British street artist.
The works attributed to Banksy have been discovered in recent days, including one near a former center for migrants at the city’s northern edge that depicts a child spray-painting wallpaper over a swastika.
Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, editor of the Artistikrezo website that broke the story, said he heard a few weeks ago through contacts in the French street art world that Banksy was planning a trip.
He said he started looking for the works and came across the one in the northern Porte de la Chappelle neighborhood. The same wallpaper stencil was used in a 2009 exposition at the Bristol Museum, he said, describing it as “a real signature” of the elusive artist.
It didn’t take long for others to add — or detract — from Banksy’s work. First came the blue tag over the wallpaper. Then on Monday, another artist temporarily covered over Banksy’s work with a poster depicting a woman’s face, but the paper was quickly pulled off and an art restorer frantically tried to cover the works with a clear plastic.
Not all the works directly reference migration. One is a play on the 1801 painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps. Others show rats, including one that appeared to have been altered over the weekend.
“It lands at a key political moment, and for me that’s really the genius of Banksy,” Laugero Lasserre said.
Banksy’s publicist did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Street artist Banksy splashes Paris with works on migrants
Street artist Banksy splashes Paris with works on migrants
‘How to Get to Heaven from Belfast’ — chaotic, clever caper from ‘Derry Girls’ creator Lisa McGee
DUBAI: The well-deserved success of her sitcom “Derry Girls” — which followed four Northern Irish Catholic schoolgirls and their English male cousin growing up in the Nineties towards the end of the period euphemistically known as ‘The Troubles’ (30 years of horribly violent sectarian conflict) — means expectations are high for this latest creation from Lisa McGee. She does not disappoint.
“How to Get to Heaven from Belfast” again centers around a group of Irish female friends, though this time they’re in their late thirties. But they have been mates since their days as Northern Irish Catholic schoolgirls. The three core friends are the endearingly goofy Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher) — the writer of a successful crime show — and Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), a wealthy, highly strung mother of four. All three receive notification that their old school friend Greta (Natasha O’Keefe) has died. And despite the fact that they’ve barely been in contact with her for 20 years, all three drop what they’re doing and head to a small town in County Donegal (where they used to go to school) for her funeral. Why? Because, we find out through flashbacks, when they were kids, the four of them did a Bad Thing — in order to help Greta — and they want to know how much anyone else might know about it.
They quickly discover that Greta’s death was somewhat mysterious and decide to do some amateur sleuthing. What they uncover leaves them reeling; and doubting both the stories Greta told them decades ago and the stories they’ve told themselves about their role in the Bad Thing.
McGee showcases her mastery of plotting — keeping numerous plates spinning at a pace that can, at times, be overwhelming — and of imbuing characters with such heart and humanity that even at their most cartoonish they remain relatable and sympathetic.
Gallagher, Dunne and Keenan are superb as the central trio, displaying the loving exasperation and fierce derision that only long-term friends can share for each other. The rest of the cast more than match up — particularly Emmett J Scanlan as Greta’s sinister husband Owen, the local police chief, and, in a joyfully unhinged cameo, “Derry Girls” star Saoirse-Monica Jackson.
There’s murder, violence, slapstick, weirdness, pathos, ethical dilemmas, tension, silliness and shocks. All carried off with a deftness of touch that belies just how hard it is to successfully put them together in the same show.
It does occasionally cross the line into outright nonsense, but for the most part “How to Get to Heaven from Belfast” is fantastic television.
