Elusive street artist Banksy confirmed he’s behind the new artwork discovered in south Wales earlier this week.
The artwork was discovered on two walls of a garage in the town of Port Talbot. The art depicts a child dressed for winter, with a sleigh on the ground. Snow appears to fall on the kid, who has his tongue sticking out to catch the snowflakes.
On the other wall, however, is a garbage bin set ablaze, showing flames and smoke emanating from the dumpster, and revealing that it’s ash that appears to be falling on the child, not snow.
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Banksy (or someone representing the artist) shared a video of his latest work on Instagram, featuring the children’s song “Little Snowflake.” The video pans up to show the nearby Tata Steel plant, which looms over the Welsh town.
“Season’s greetings,” read the caption below the video.
The owner of the garage, Ian Lewis, a steelworker for Tata Steel, said he first saw the piece when images spread on Facebook on Tuesday evening. He said Port Talbot was probably chosen for the Banksy work due to news headlines about the town’s air pollution.
According to the BBC, once word got out about the Banksy work, local council members got in contact with Lewis and cordoned off a small area around the artwork to help protect the display.
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Deputy leader Anthony Taylor told the BBC that council had “been in contact with other local authorities who have previously had Banksy artworks within their area, to take advice.”
–with a file from the Associated Press
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