Banksy Guided Textual Analysis – Season’s Greeting

While some may not realize it, air pollution is a growing global issue that poses a

large risk to health, especially in more industrialized and populated areas. Banksy is a

renowned street artist known for his unique stenciling style and sometimes controversial

artworks seen around the world. His identity remains unknown, but he conveys his

perspective on several common issues through his graffiti art, as seen in the image

“Season’s Greetings.” The image was created in Port Talbot, the most polluted area in

the United Kingdom, according to the World Health Organization. It depicts a child

celebrating what he seems to think is snowfall, but what is actually ash from the furnace

on the neighboring wall. Through his use of unique stylistic choices and a clever choice

of location, Banksy criticizes the extremely high levels of pollution in Port Talbot and the

older population’s indifference towards this. In doing so, Banksy calls upon them to

reconsider their actions toward the environment to prevent the future generation from

bearing the consequences.

Banksy targets the older population of Port Talbot to condemn their failure to

acknowledge the bitter reality of severe pollution. The child’s pose, with his arms

outstretched, and his facial expression of bliss, with his tongue stuck out, indicates that

he thinks it is snowing. The child does not realize that this is actually ash from the

neighbouring furnace. This innocence and ignorance emphasizse the normality of such

an abnormal situation to the entire population of Port Talbot, as it comes as a shock to

the viewer seeing the joy in the child’s eyes despite such a bleak state. However, these

are the conditions the children there have grown accustomed to, and thus they do not

realize the health risks it is posing to them. This could also be symbolic of the older
generation as well, who see it as completely ordinary and disregard the dire need for a

change. Additionally, Banksy creates a three-dimensional aspect to the image by

separating the furnace and the child on two different walls. The positioning of the image

in this way causes the viewer to initially think it might simply be snowing upon the child

at a late time; however, further examination of the complete image reveals that this is

not snow, but ash from a furnace. This represents the older population’s detachment

from the issue, undermining the gravity of the situation and disregarding its root

causes—severe industrialization, symbolized by the furnace releasing all this ash.

Banksy suggests that the older generation must inspect more closely the result of the

widespread industrialization of the area on their conditions of living. Therefore, Banksy

calls upon his primary audience to perceive the major issue with such abnormally high

levels of pollution and reflect on their priorities—industrialization or health.

With this audience in mind, Banksy warns them of the consequences of ignoring

the extremely high levels of air pollution to emphasize the urgency of changing their

behaviour immediately. The image is almost completely monochromatic to reflect the

bleakness of the situation, with the exception of the fire burning in the furnace. The face

of the child appears to be lit, further emphasizing his joy despite such a bleak situation.

This again reminds the audience of the way their actions are indirectly harming them

and robbing children of a normal childhood with actual snow; they have become

satisfied with ash to replace the snow. Furthermore, Banksy chooses to maintain the

bright orange colour of the fire despite the general monochromatic tone of the image in

order to create a focus on it as the viewer examines the wall on the left. A fire in a

furnace will continue to burn and grow unless it is deliberately put out with an
extinguisher. This is symbolic of the pressing nature of the pollution issue in Port Talbot,

as Banksy argues that it will only continue to grow if not remain the same with time.

Therefore, it is crucial for the population to do what they can to ‘extinguish’ the problem

by minimizing their dependence on industrial pollutants such as home furnaces or

factories. Banksy’s use of a monochromatic colour scheme combines with his symbolic

inclusion of the fire on the furnace to urge the audience to alter their actions to protect

the environment and resolve the pollution issue before it is too late.

Finally, Banksy also hopes to convey to the audience the bleak consequences of

their indifference towards the protection of the environment on future generations. The

child in the image is symbolic of the future generation as a whole. It is possible to argue

that Banksy has created this image set in the future when such severe levels of

pollution will eliminate the possibility of snowfall. As a result, Banksy subverts the

common image of a child standing gleefully in the snow with their tongue stuck out by

replacing snow with ash, which will be much more harmful to their health. The ignorance

of the child towards this health risk represents the lack of information in society

regarding how high levels of air pollution affect health in the long-term. Banksy

suggests that if these extreme levels of pollution persist for decades in the future, snow

will be impossible due to climate change, and thus children will rejoice under ash rather

than snow. This bleak outcome reminds the viewer of the dire nature of the pollution

issue, and the need to take steps to minimize this pollution at least for the safety and

health of the future generation. Therefore, Banksy uses the bleak image of the child in

the snow as a way of appealing to the audience’s emotions, stressing the need to

protect the future generation by doing everything in their power to reduce air pollution.
 Banksy incorporates unique visual features such as a monochromatic color

scheme and symbolic characters or objects in order to convey the urgency of air

pollution in Port Talbot. This reminds the audience of the older generation that it is time

for them to reconsider the weight they place on the issue and take action in ways such

as reducing carbon emissions. Bansky’s image titled “Season’s Greetings” may be

mainly directed towards the Port Talbot community, but it should serve to remind

everyone around the world of the importance of protecting the environment in whatever

way possible. While the risks of harming the environment might not be currently

obvious, they undoubtedly will be in the future, when it is too late.