Banksy’s animal art safari concludes with striking gorilla mural at London Zoo

Elusive street artist Banksy’s ninth animal-themed mural in nine days, unveiled on Tuesday on a shutter outside London Zoo, depicted a gorilla releasing animals from the zoo, tying together the series of artworks. Claimed by the artist on Instagram, the mural outside London Zoo showed a gorilla lifting the shutter to free birds and a seal, with some animals staring out from the inside. It is the latest in Banksy’s series populating the British capital with animals, starting with a goat revealed last week Monday, followed by two elephants the next day and then monkeys, a wolf, pelicans, a cat, piranhas and a rhinoceros in subsequent days.
The frequency of artworks is unusual for Banksy — whose identity is publicly unknown — and who usually spaces out his pieces over months, leaving fans speculating about the meaning of the different animals and awaiting a “big” reveal. The latest mural was “an absolute shock and surprise to all of us here at London Zoo”, Karl Penman, commercial operations manager at the zoo said. “If it is the full stop, what a great full stop to end on,” Penman told AFP.
The BBC reported the that piece was the last in the series. “You can see the watchful eyes, which to me look a little bit uncertain about whether they want to be free,” said doctor Sharmela Darne about the eyes of animals staring from behind the shutter in the latest artwork. “But the seal’s clearly going away and so are the birds flying free… so maybe it’s about freedom and being unsure about freedom,” Darne told AFP.
For many, the animal safari has added some positivity to their week, as the country reeled following the death of three girls in a stabbing and ensuing violent riots. Speaking in front of two pelicans painted over a fish shop in Walthamstow, northeast London, Peter McCarthy said it had been “very nice to have it in this particular week”. “Very nice that he’s been around the country when there’s been such trouble. Doing these wonderful things.”
For others, the choice of animals has meaning, with some finding the goat similar to a Palestinian mountain gazelle and others pointing out the artist’s previous work on the climate crisis. Three of the artworks have already been removed or stolen, and the rhino revealed on Monday was defaced the same day. A satellite dish painted with the wolf was stolen within hours of being claimed by Banksy, with the cat on a billboard removed by contractors and a police box painted with swimming piranhas removed by the local authority to ensure it was “properly protected”.
Speaking in front of the cat on Saturday before it was removed, dentist Mitul Patel said he wished “people would leave his work alone so that other people could enjoy it as well”. Locals and tourists alike have been enjoying the artworks that are still up. Taking a brief pause from his job, construction worker Owen said the three monkeys in east London’s Shoreditch area were “very exciting” and a “big talking point”.
Kevin Mazur, a photographer visiting from the US, said he had been “running around photographing all” the artworks, and was “bummed” about having to return to New York. Retiree Don Gould lives around the corner from the goat in southwest London’s Kew Green, and saw the artwork after it was revealed online last week. “It’s very good excuse for a stroll on the green and a pint, isn’t it?”