Banksy’s Flower Thrower and the Power of Peace
Banksy is a famous, anonymous street artist based in England who has been active since the 1990s. His art appears in very public places, often on walls, buildings and public walkways, and is produced using stencils. He uses powerful images that explore political and social themes and rely on humour and satire.
His seminal work “Flower Thrower” features a man in casual clothing, a kerchief over his mouth, and a cap over his head in the process of throwing something. By all means, it looks like a violent scene; the object that he’s throwing may as well be a Molotov cocktail, if we’re being congruent with the rest of his appearance. However, the object in his hands is a bouquet of flowers, hence the name “Flower Thrower”. The man is painted entirely in black and white, and the only burst of color that features in this piece of art is the bouquet of flowers.
The message here is fairly easy to interpret: choose peace over violence. The stance that the man has taken in this piece is usually associated with violence, the act of throwing something, and especially with his mouth covered he seems like a protester. He could have been throwing a brick or a stone, but instead Banksy gives him a bouquet of flowers — a traditional offer of peace. The man is almost aggressively advocating for peace. This leads to one of the most important and recurring themes in protest imagery: the choice of peace against your oppressors. This was most prominently symbolised in the Indian independence movement, when Gandhi and his cohorts adopted a policy of non-violent resistance against the British colonial forces. Even today, we see images of protestors offering flowers to the police as a gesture of peace, and continuing their protest without violence. This piece by Banksy serves as a great reminder that peace is always there for you to seek, it is only a matter of choosing it. Especially in political protests where things can get quite violent, especially from the side of the police, it is an act of resistance in itself to not stoop to the tactics of the oppressor. Recently, in India, during the CAA-NRC protests in early 2020, there was a poignant image of protestors offering roses to Delhi Police, who had been accused of beating up protestors.
Image courtesy: The Hindu
The power of peaceful protests transcends time and cultures. It may not always work, and it may not always even be the right approach, but the power of peace is hypnotizing. Choose peace, always, if you can.