Banksy, a famed street artist notable for his satirical street art depicting political and social issues within the world, created this street painting in hopes of spreading awareness. What he is trying to spread awareness for however, is entirely debatable. Some would see this as a cry for help on the issue of homelessness while others would claim Banksy is using the man in this image as a symbol for the need for change with generally everything in the world. This image has many symbols and shows quite a disturbing side to the issue of homelessness. Banksy gives us this man, who simply desires a change in the way he is perceived by society. He wants the world to stop being greedy and to stop the endless desire for a gain in monetary value. Through the features of color, realism, organization, and coherence, Banksy is able to present to society the common struggle of any typical homeless person.

Beginning with the first feature that is quite apparent within the image is the color of the street art. Banksy sets up the mural on what seems to be quite a random location perhaps an alleyway or a brick wall on an abandoned building. This aspect adds a feeling of insignificance or isolation with the character in the image. The mix of the colors red and black are generally used to symbolize despair and aggression. These colors are mostly depicted in pop culture by “goth kids” to show a sense of rebellion from society. The black is shown only on the mysterious man. Perhaps society has casted this vail of dark black on him so they can ignore him while he struggles day by day to live in this tough, enduring world. The man has been shunned by society and now chooses to live a life in solitude. The white in this image is mainly found on the sign and on the cup by the man’s feet. The color white could in fact be a symbol for the hope that this man has. The sign being white could be a symbol that the message the man has written on the sign will spark a worldwide awakening towards the need for change in society. No matter what this man is trying to create change for, his sign is his only form of communication to society because other than that his voice has been ignored simply for the fact that he is homeless. Since people see this pure white sign they might actually listen to it rather than listen to the cries of a dark ominous figure. The cup being white symbolizes the source of a need for change. Instead of wanting spare coins and dollars, the man only needs change. He does not desire monetary value but rather personal value in society. He wants to stop being looked down upon and show society that he actually holds importance in the world.

Banksy’s use of realism in this painting is a feature that stands out in full depth. Banksy literally painted this image on a brick wall, most likely found somewhere in London where Banksy is from. The painting is showing a visual example of a homeless man begging, which is something pretty much everyone has seen or dealt with. The way the painting was created makes it seem as if the homeless man is actually right there begging for something. He is sitting on the hard dirt with shabby clothes on just as any homeless person would. Even the message he is presenting is very life-like. The lack of progress for the betterment of a stable socio-economic society has been hindered by the widespread of greed and desire to better one’s self no matter what it takes. Banksy, quite obviously upset with the way society has been handling itself, uses his platform to promote a much needed change in how society works. Perhaps by painting this image, Banksy hoped that its realism would be able to appeal to people rather than looking at a homeless person and just ignoring them. It is interesting though, rarely does one see a homeless person with a message like this on the street. Usually all they want is spare change or dollars; enough for a temporary fix of food or water, simple things that are easily come by, but what Banksy is portraying is a man who puts the world’s needs above his own. He is not concerned with accumulating money through begging, he instead wants to bring about a shift in the way people depict those living on the street with no money to their names. Instead of being just a person whose only desire is to get money from begging, Banksy uses this man in the image to show that there is more to it than just getting money; he wants to promote a change in the way people think and what they do about the issue of homelessness. The realist aspect of this image definitely allows Banksy to send a much more powerful message to society. 

The third feature from this image that clearly stands out is organization. It is easy to look over really the way an image can use organization as a main feature of that image, but Banksy has set this street art up in such a perfect way; low on the ground on the side of a brick wall in what is most likely a shady or sketchy area. The way the homeless man is positioned looks exactly like how a real homeless person would be sitting on the street. He is hunched over with his old wool hat and dirty baggy clothes. He has his cup in which people can drop money into and holds his sign out to show his desperation to those who are walking by. The man even seems to have this blank and eternal stare in his eyes almost as if he has lost almost all of the hope he has for his cause. The image sends off a really somber but also hopeless feeling by the way that it is organized. It just seems like no matter what is written on the man’s sign, he will never see a change in the way he is perceived by society. There is nobody around the man, he is by himself. If there were people surrounding him, it would provide a sense of hope as if the man’s message has struck a chord to the people who have walked by him. But no, the man is instead by himself with, what it seems to be, absolutely nothing in his cup in which there should be something whether that be notes of encouragement or at least something to show people appreciate what this man is doing, but perhaps this was not Banksy’s motive. Maybe he is using this image to make us feel bad for ignoring the real homeless so we can come to our senses and realize that although they live a much different life than many in the world, they are still human beings and deserve to be treated as such rather than having to spend their days on the side of the street. 

The fourth and final feature that Banksy uses to further develop this image is coherence. There is nothing in this image that Banksy has specifically made difficult to comprehend. Compared to other works of his, this may in fact be one of the most coherent in the sense that it is easy to understand. It is possible that the reason behind this was that this issue really means something to Banksy and he wants others to be able to understand how compassionate he is about this. Usually many pieces of art are difficult to understand and many can come away from them and be even more confused as to what the artist’s motive was behind creating the piece of art. But Banksy makes sure that this image is easy to understand mostly through the text that he has written on the sign.

Banksy’s image reminds the world that it is imperative to understand the situation we are in in terms of the widespread greed and lack of care for those less fortunate than us. He is calling for a shift in society so that everybody can start to become more compassionate about the issues that so many people are going through rather than working endlessly to fulfill our desires for increases in our monetary value. Banksy helps open the eyes of the world with his image using color, organization, coherence, and realism. These four features help bring out the meaning of this powerful image in a way that people can really feel emotion towards.
