The elusive street artist Banksy has reportely confirmed via reliable channels he is responsible for a new mural that has appeared in Bayswater, west London. The Banksy Bayswater mural shows two children lying on the ground, dressed in wellington boots, coats and winter bobble hats, with one child pointing upwards towards the sky.
The artwork has been painted on a wall above a row of garages on Queen’s Mews and was first seen on Monday. Banksy confirmed the Bayswater mural by posting an image of the work on his Instagram account on Monday afternoon. The artist’s identity remains unknown.
Reliable media outlets have been tipped that Banksy is also behind an identical mural that appeared outside the Centre Point tower in central London on Friday. However, his representatives have only confirmed authorship of the Banksy Bayswater mural. The central London piece has not been formally acknowledged by the artist.
Artist Daniel Lloyd-Morgan was quoted as suggesting that the Centre Point location carried a specific meaning related to child homelessness. “Everybody is having a good time but there are a lot of children who are not having a good time at Christmas,” he said.
He added that passers-by appeared to be ignoring the artwork. “It’s a busy area. Quite poignant that people aren’t stopping. They walk past homeless people and they don’t see them lying on the street. It’s kind of like they’re stargazing. It’s quite fitting that the kids are pointing up like they’re looking at the North Star.”
The black and white street art depicts two children lying on their backs and pointing upwards. One child wears a woolly hat with hands tucked into their jacket pockets. Behind them, a larger figure wearing boots and a bobbly hat, possibly a Santa-style hat, also points towards the sky. The Centre Point mural appears visually identical to the Banksy Bayswater mural.
It is believed the work made a clear statement about homelessness. The Centre Point tower, at 101 to 103 New Oxford Street, has long been associated with housing protests.
Originally built as an office block in 1963, the building remained empty for more than a decade, prompting anger among social justice campaigners. The homelessness charity Centrepoint took its name from the tower after being founded by Reverend Ken Leech, who described the building as “an affront to the homeless”. The block has since been redeveloped into multimillion-pound luxury flats.
Banksy has not commented directly on the relevance of either location in relation to the new works. Mr Tomkins said he believed the artwork referenced an earlier Banksy piece.
“In 2018 he painted in Port Talbot, and the little boy is identical to child that has been painted here,” he said. “This is quite unusual for him to use the same little boy again, because he has never done that.”
The Centre Point mural follows Banksy’s London artwork from September, which depicted a protester lying on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard while a judge in a wig and gown loomed above, holding a gavel. That mural appeared on a wall within the Royal Courts of Justice complex and was removed days later.
In 2024, Banksy created an animal-themed trail across London, featuring works showing a goat, elephants, a gorilla, monkeys, piranhas, a rhino and pelicans among other animals. The Banksy Bayswater mural now adds to that recent series of high-profile works across the capital.
