Reuters journalists found out during an investigation that a Bristol artist named David Jones may be hiding under the pseudonym Banksy, UNN reports.
Details
As journalists found out, the man called Banksy was identified as Robin Gunningham from Bristol, who changed his name to David Jones and is associated with the influential company Pest Control, which authenticates his works. It is noted that Gunningham at some point changed his name to David Jones. This probably happened due to attempts by the British media to reveal his identity.
The agency analyzed archival materials, old interviews, public documents and testimonies of people who knew the artist, and also made a trip to Ukraine, which became a key moment.
In particular, in 2022, an image of a man in a bathtub appeared in Horenka, Kyiv region. According to local residents, an ambulance drove up to the house, from which three men emerged: one of them was in a gray hoodie with a hood, the other in a baseball cap. The faces of these two were masked. Another member of this group was unmasked, had only one arm and prostheses on both lower limbs.
The men carried cardboard stencils out of the "ambulance" and taped them to the inner wall of the destroyed apartment, after which they took out spray cans.
It is reported that journalists, in an attempt to find out from locals who might have seen this man, showed photos of Thierry Guetta - an artist who starred in a 2010 documentary about Banksy, Robert Del Naja - an artist and frontman of the band Massive Attack, and Robin Gunningham, whom the media has repeatedly named as the one hiding behind the name Banksy.
One of the women from Horenka, Tetiana Reznychenko, said that she made coffee for two men who were painting the mural, and saw them without masks. When she was shown photos of the three alleged Banksys, "her eyes widened" when she saw Robert Del Naja. Despite this, she denied that he was the one who painted the mural.
Journalists learned that the man with prostheses was Giles Duley - a documentary photographer who lost his limbs in Afghanistan. His foundation provides ambulances to local non-governmental organizations in Ukraine.
Investigators received confirmation that Duley and Del Naja did indeed enter Ukraine on October 28, 2022 - shortly before Banksy's murals began to appear. However, it is unknown who was with them during the creation of the paintings.
After that, journalists turned to the story of 2000, described in the book of Banksy's former manager Steve Lazarides. It told how the artist was arrested by the police when he was painting an advertising banner. Since the damage exceeded $1,500, the police tried to charge him with a felony. Among the documents there is also a handwritten confession of the detained man. Banksy paid a fine and fees totaling $310, and in early 2001 served his five-day community service.
Banksy's confession contained the name - Robin Gunningham. There are no records of this man ever entering Ukraine. However, Banksy's memoirs mentioned that he considered the possibility of officially changing his name. Journalists determined that this could be David Jones - a person with that name crossed the border with Ukraine at the same time as Duley and Del Naja.
Recall
The elusive street artist Banksy showed a new mural. Instagram users rejoiced at the new "painting" on the eve of Christmas and called it cute.