"If I’d kept my mouth shut about this tank [one assumes to Banksy], it’d have been here forever."
The Independent has posted an article by Guy Adams with information submitted from Zack Skelly including video clips showing Tachowa Covington during his last day at the 'Elephant' of a water tanker.
Even though the folks at Banksy'sElephant, the current owners of the piece and those responsabile for its removal, have vehemently denied Tachowa's living there at the time, these videos tell a different story.
"That was my shit," Tachowa says of the water tanker, as he describes how he was there in the tanker the night the 'Elephant' artwork went up. Tachowa says he gave permission to a man who came by, assumably Banksy, who asked if it was allright to paint on the structure. Tachowa granted the permission, but has regrets about that since. He says on the video, "if I’d kept my mouth shut about this tank [one assumes to Banksy], it’d have been here forever."
It seems that this man, Tachowa, really was made homeless, or, at least more so, by the removal of the water tanker.
And even if Banksy can't be directly blamed for making this homeless, the placement is puzzling. No one is accusing Banksy of intending to put a man out of a home. Still, this tanker had been at the center of a heated land battle between the local community association who wanted its removal, and Tachowa, who was petitioning for squatters rights. In light of all this background, one has to wonder why this piece was chosen for Banksy's artwork?
I might be a little too naive but I don't think the Banksternator had any kind of malice in this piece. still unfortunate.
ReplyDelete^^ agreed, Banksy was prolly just passing by and said damn that thing looks kinda like an elephant... and there u have it
ReplyDeletedoubt the dude that's helped bail people out of jail and is putting out a chairt poster this weekend, would ever try to kick a homeless guy out of his semi-home
what the hell is a hobo doing in a water tank? seriously man be a classic hobo take a box or a bridge. don't blame banksy
ReplyDeleteIf Banksy, a man of enormous wealth and fame, is so thoughtless that he would point the world to a homeless man's only shelter in a way that any thinking person would realize would end badly (for the squatter) then he might need to pull his head a tiny bit out of the paint fumes and think about single human beings from time to time. Mock culture, tug on Superman's cape, spit at government actions, but watch out for your fellow (homeless) man.
ReplyDelete