Japanese Ladies

Banksy’s stencil re-imagines an anonymous arch on a New York street to double as a bridge, traversed by two Geisha. It is a clever reinvention of a forgotten architectural detail, turning it into something new and clever.

In 2010 Banksy gave us this graffiti in East Williamsburg, New York City. The graffiti image shows the stencil of what appears to be two ladies dressed in classic Japanese, Geisha style clothing standing on a bridge and at the foot of the bridge is a Bonsai tree. The detailing of this art is minimal and with the stencil filled with a solid black tone. What does however make this piece interesting is the bridge that the two women are standing on is in fact part of the building's architectural design. Banksy gives us little to speculate on with this image and hasn’t given much of a hidden clue with regards to a political view, sly dig at the government or some subliminal message. So what is the point of him drawing these two Japanese ladies? Perhaps he passed the bridge like brick formation on the side of the building and his artistic flare simply took him to these two ladies? Or maybe he is indicating what is yet to come. After spending a significant amount of time in the the USA, he could now be telling us he is headed for Japan. A few years later we do see Banksy’s graffiti in Tokyo Japan, his simple, original design of the rat is sprayed on a door near one of the cities main monorail stations. We then know that Banksy also held an exhibition in 2020 - 2022 across Japan. So maybe, back in 2010 this image of the two Japanese ladies was in fact the very initial thoughts that Banksy had when considering taking to the streets of Japan.