Now, I’m not here to argue graffiti as a legitimate art form (which it is), or say that its presence is a net positive for society (which it’s not). I’d rather simply point out that during our recent trip to New Orleans, my sister and I twice stumbled upon works of perhaps the best-known graffiti artist in the world: Banksy.
I remembered reading about Banksy’s pieces in New Orleans, but couldn’t remember at what point, post-Katrina, they appeared. It was nice to know that at least a couple of them are still intact today, even if more (relatively) talentless stuff has gone up nearby in the year-and-a-half since Lincoln. Nice, though, that the new additions respected Abe’s space!
The first time we saw one, we were exiting I-10 at Canal Street, on our way to the Algiers Ferry, when something caught my eye… something from the Internet! I knew right away that I needed a photo of it, but couldn’t find a place to park just then, so we found ourselves stuck in Claiborne Street traffic for a while until we could make it back to Tulane Ave, the first street pointing in the right direction (after two inward-facing one-ways!). We made it back and found a place to park so I could get out and took a few photos.
The second (and sadly, final) Banksy art sighting of our trip happened on our last night in town, on our way to an ill-fated trip to Yo Mama’s. We noticed the girl, missed the turn, and had to loop around a few blocks, but ultimately managed to capture the second piece you see above. It was right across Kerlerec Street from the Rampart Food Store.
Cool art, but what of the rights of the property owners? Yes, there is that… but Banksy can come ‘tag up’ on my car whenever s/he wants!
