Stephanie Kiley

English 101

Phillips

27 February 2016

Analysis: Girl with a Balloon

Other than pieces of writing like short stories, poems, and books, artwork is another way that people choose to express themselves. Banksy, a very famous graffiti artist and political activist, uses his street work to enforce a message to those who view it. The locations of his drawings are purposeful, picking them to further enforce the statement of his pictures. His identity is unknown; however, his art is renowned due to it's simplicity. In a particular piece, "A Girl with a Balloon", Banksy imposes the message that hope is essential to everyday life, despite every obstacle one faces. He utilizes symbolism, color, placement and style in order to emphasize this message.

To begin with, there is a great deal of symbolism that enhance the statement that "there is always hope". All of the objects in the image can be a representation for something more meaningful to human life. For example, the balloon in the image is in the shape of a heart, representing love, hope, or even happiness, all things that humans strive for. It can also be symbolic of what we are reaching towards, possible goals or aspirations. This is because of how it is shown in the picture, floating away from the little girl, but also close in reaching distance, much like a lot of our dreams. In addition, a balloon can represent innocence to many of us who played with them or released them into the sky as little kids. We are reminded of dreams that we've always had, especially as a child, when passing by this artwork. The little girl herself symbolizes youth and innocence because of how she is drawn and what she is doing. She is reaching out towards the balloon, possibly portraying that our wants and desires are close and we just have to reach for them in order to obtain them. In addition, the sentence written on a dark background, "There is always hope" stands out to us and only reinforces this theory. Knowing Banksy's work, there is always a statement behind everything that he creates. Many versions of this particular art have shown up all over, the most famous being found in the South Bank of London on a worn down wall. Those who view his work know that this must have been chosen purposefully. Viewers could assume that this background might also be a symbol for struggles or adversities that one must overcome in order to achieve hope, or "the balloon". His message "There is always hope" is an encouragement that this hope/dream is attainable and to keep reaching.

Furthermore, the color and mostly lack of color intensifies the portrayal Banksy is making. The artwork is set against a worn, dirty wall which is up against a staircase. He chooses to make the entire picture all black and white, except for the bright red balloon. The lack of color in the picture emphasizes the importance of the balloon, while also signifying the rest of the image as going through some type of struggle. The little girls body is darker and shaded, which makes her stand out against the lighter background as a center piece of the picture. She is important to the photo, as the main character, trying to catch what is in front of her, despite her surroundings. However, the red balloon is what stands out the most to us, the only color on the wall at all. This is done purposefully, for Banksy wants the viewer's attention to be drawn to that balloon, the main focal point of the artwork. Bright and colored, it almost seems to jump out of the picture, floating away but close to the little girls outstretched arm. The bright color of red can symbolize many things such as blood which makes it emotionally intense. The color red identifies with strength, power, determination, love, passion and desire. This description relates back to how the balloon is an admirable object that the human (us) wants. Faith is what will motivate us in order to reach these opportunities in life that are important to us.

In addition, the placement of objects in the picture can influence how the audience perceives it. There are two ways in which someone might first see the street art. Either walking from left to right or from right to left. The way in which they view the art can also impact how they observe it and the message of the image. Someone walking left to right will first see the balloon flying away from the little girl, and then will keep moving across and see the message he wrote, "There is always hope". Seeing the sentence after will define what the person just saw, whereas someone walking right to left will first see the sentence and then the picture making them interpret it possibly different. Although the picture is up for interpretation, the placement of the objects can help determine the meaning. The balloon is high up which would most likely represent something of great importance or of being high priority, such as one's happiness. Underneath it, the little girl is looking upwards at it, recognizing its significance, and reaching out at it. Her body placement, lower than the balloon, and hand placement, reaching upwards, represents her strive for greatness. The blowing of her hair shows the adversity she faces, that is blowing her balloon (or her end goal) away from her. However, even though she might have interferences, there is the statement "There is always hope". This sentence is also very high in the picture, the same height as the balloon. This is very significant for although the balloon (or end result) is known to be important, the placement of the sentence which is just as high up in the image shows its high degree of position as well. This reinforces the significance of having hope as well as dreams and that the balloon can be obtained by those who endeavor it.

Moreover, "A Girl with a Balloon" empowers Banksy's style of giving art value through simplification. The famous graffiti artist is notorious for this style of artwork, simple yet effective. Because of his growing of anonymous drawings all over, many people have become intrigued and grown to love his street art. Whenever a piece of his art is found, people look out for more pieces that show up in random of places with broad, unspecific messages. His simplistic style allows those to interpret the meaning of his art in many possible ways. In this particular piece, he also uses abstraction in order to give the image more meaning. The little girl does not have a clear face in the picture, which makes her more relatable to the viewer. She is sort of facing away, with very simple features, making her unrecognizable as a certain human being, but how we would picture a little girl to look like. She is standing on a real patch of grass, not drawn, which makes the image more real and brings us back to reality while looking at it. We can really relate to the message and the little girl, playing with a balloon. The significance behind the image is subtle because it is not very detailed or easy to see, however he gave the wall meaning that it didn't have before. He incorporated the background in the image, which made the artwork more real to the viewers and gave the picture a small, but deep meaning to anyone who views it. 

Overall, the picture "A Girl with A Balloon" was drawn with purpose behind it to promote motivation towards one's goals. By using a simple drawing style, a lack of color, effective placement, and a strong use of symbolism, Banksy effectively draws attention to striving for greatness despite adversity and obstacles standing in our way. Although many people could interpret his work and this particular piece differently, the words "There is always hope" instills a sense of motivation in the viewers to push on with his/her goals in life. Even though the views of "The Girl with a Balloon" may differ, Banksy's work is appreciated by most because his artwork always seems to have a hidden message that people love to try and uncover. Because of his mysterious identity and the way his art work seems to show up over night in various places, he has transformed his artwork from vandalism to famous pieces that are worth a lot of money. The mysteriousness of his work allows people to make their own conclusions, while giving more worth to the background. 

Work Cited

Banksy. (2006). Wall and piece. London: Random House UK.
