Banksy has unveiled new coronavirus-related artwork in a London Underground train carriage.
The artist shared a new video on his Instagram account on Tuesday, showing the art being made.
Captioned “If you don’t mask – you don’t get”, the clip features a person (presumably the elusive street artist) donning a white boiler suit, goggles, gloves, an orange vest, and a protective mask before hopping on a Circle Line train.
The outfit resembles that of TFL workers tasked with deep cleaning Tube carriages during the coronavirus pandemic – a fact made clear by the inclusion, at the beginning of Banksy’s video, of an excerpt from a news clip about deep cleaning operations.
As the train pulls into Baker Street Station, the artist is seen stencilling one of his famous rats onto the carriage, complete with a spray of blue droplets.
After gesturing to a fellow passenger, apparently asking him to move to a different part of the train, he then spray-paints another rat, this time using a blue mask as a parachute.
The video then pans to another rat with a mask on its face, and one holding a bottle of hand sanitiser.
Towards the end of the clip, the message “I get lockdown” is displayed, spray-painted on the wall opposite the train.
The carriage’s doors then shut to reveal the additional sentence: “But I get up again”, as the song Tubthumping (also known as “I Get Knocked Down”) by Chumbawamba begins playing.
Each of the doors is also adorned with a stencilled rat, with both animals looking at each other.
Additional reporting by PA
