The tape of an extremely rare video, reportedly with elusive graffiti artist Banksy, has been discovered – nearly 16 years after British TV channel ITV News filmed it ahead of the artist’s Turf War exhibition in 2003.
The half-minute clip features a man wearing a baseball cap and a T-shirt pulled over his face talking to correspondent Haig Gordon, who has retired since. “I’m disguised because you can’t really be a graffiti writer and then go public,” the man, reportedly Banksy, tells Gordon. “The two things don’t quite go together.”
Gordon subsequently asks, “You don’t mind if I pass your details on to the police?”
“No,” replies Banksy after what seems like a chuckle, “What details have you got?”
The art seen behind the man with the covered face matches works attributed to Banksy’s Turf war exhibition.
The report was discovered by Bristol-based ITV News correspondent Robert Murphy, who found a tape labelled “Interview with Banksy” in the channel’s archive library, reported Huffpost. Murphy then contacted Haig Gordon, who said he had forgotten he had interviewed Banksy in 2003, and couldn’t remember now what his face looked like.
So far, no likeliness exists of the unidentified artist who has almost become synonymous with graffiti as a tool of resistance across the world. In Exit Through The Giftshop, Banksy’s own film, the artist is filmed as a hooded silhouette and his voice is distorted.
However, despite the artist saying he likes to “slip back into the shadows”, several videos claiming to be conversations with Banksy remain in circulation.
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