           The way Banksy approaches politics and social injustices is different than the average person and other artists. The difference in his style forces viewers to see his art in a new way; something you can’t do with typical art you would find in a museum. Graffiti is a drastically different style of art than what viewers are used to, and the initial shock of the brashness of it can force the viewer to look at the real reason the art was put there. When you look at modern art it is because you made a choice to go and view that piece of art. With graffiti you are surprised and forced to think about what you just saw. Banksy places his art in strategic areas so now even his canvas has a meaning behind it and adds to the message. In this piece of art, Banksy shows people his interpretation of the correct way to protest. Banksy uses emphatic colors, symbols, and locations to portray his message through his work in the most effective way possible. 

With today’s current events Banksy’s art can be interpreted in many different ways. When the media reports on the protests against social injustice, they tend to focus on the destruction and not the message that is being portrayed. Banksy chooses his symbols and colors wisely to get the message across. In one of Banksy’s most popular art, ‘Rage, The Flower Thrower”, the flowers replacing the Molotov shows his choice of peace over hate. His choice to make the man black and white emphasized the focus of the work, the bouquet of flowers, which was painted in color. By pulling the viewer's’ attention away from the protestor, Banksy shows that people should be paying attention to the purpose of the protests as opposed to their actions.  Finally, the locations he chooses create a bigger impact; this art was painted on the border wall of Israel after protesters stabbed three people in a gay pride parade.  While Banksy may have created this piece of art in response to this act specifically, its message can still be applied to current events.

           In this piece of art Banksy made sure to choose his colors very carefully. The painting is in all black and white except the bouquet of flowers. The flowers in Banksy's art represent a Molotov cocktail, which is a huge indicator of the violence that people want to see. By replacing this with something such as flowers, that viewers will still see as pleasing, he is making a statement about the importance of peace. The protestor is portrayed as violent and gang like. This is addressing some stereotypes that come along with the average protestor. When you hear a news feed about protests, usually the first thing that will pop in your head is an image of groups of people going around destroying personal property and harming others. This is because the media will only broadcast a protest when it goes violent because that is what gets the views. You rarely see on television a broadcast of peaceful protesting. Unfortunately, consumers of information in America simply aren’t interested in nonviolent protests, they lose interest unless there is something horrific happening. The irony here is that sometimes, there really is something horrific happening, and that is what people are protesting peacefully, and yet, there is still no media coverage and the issue remains unheard of. This is why Banksy chose to do art on this topic because protestors are only looked on in one way and it's wrong. He wants to make the world a better place and addressing this social issue is one way to do it. The protestor is black and white because they aren’t remembered in the end of the day. The reason they are protesting is not remembered either. The only thing that sticks in people’s minds is the mess left afterwards when protests aren’t done peacefully.  The replaced molotov is used in a polar opposite to portray what he really wants in this world, peace. The flowers are telling people to think about how they protest and to see what is the morally right thing to do. Killing and destroying buildings only break down more and doesn’t build up or heal anything.

           Today this painting is very relevant and possibly controversial. In current events there is multiple occasions of social injustice and rarely is the problem resolved. Not all instances get nationwide attention but when they do it can sometimes become violent. In the examples of Baltimore, Ferguson, Baton Rouge, and the most recent Charlotte the outcry has become violent. These protests began peaceful and was based solely on citizens demanding answers from our justice department. The racial bias found in the occurring events was unwarranted and people wanted the rest of the world to see it. The protests began to turn violent and that is when the world finally started to listen. The protesters began beating people up, looting stores, and committing arson. There were only a handful of these protesters and they affected the entire movement. The effect of these outliers changed the perception of outsiders and even created anti protests in the process. Banksy wants to address the protesters like them and change how they act. You can get the same message across peacefully and not tarnish the movement you are trying to back. You shouldn’t protest violence in our justice system with more violence. The cliché “an eye for an eye makes everyone blind” can be used here, as blind rage will just make things worse and not better.

           Banksy wasn’t always into political graffiti and even adopted his own style early on. His art isn’t typical but very unique. Graffiti is usually viewed as vandalism and affiliated with gangs. Banksy began straying away from free hand painting and actually cut out stencils of his art before he would go to paint it. After he discovered how he was going to get his work out to public was when he began to focus on the political messages he had grown up his whole life with in Bristol. After almost a decade of practice he moved to London where he met with many other collaborators which helped propel his publicity. His helpers replicated his own art all around the city and his photographer friend helped get the images out for the rest of the world to see. Once he gained some popularity he focused on his cooperate hate and political views using clever placement and symbol placement. His goal was for everyone to see his art hence the public “vandalism” instead of inside of art galleries. Banksy currently sells his art for millions as everyone wants their hands on the rebellious artist’s work.  His work is even protected by a board of people to ensure it is not vandalized by rival artists and that the city doesn’t remove his art. Even though Banksy’s identity is a secret his ideals and art have touched many people around the world. His works continue to push for his ultimate goal of making the world a better place as a whole (BBC).
