World-famous street artist Banksy is believed to have visited Port Talbot in Wales, leaving a new artwork behind that appears to comment on the town’s industrial heritage. The painting appeared on two walls of a garage in the Taibach area overnight and shows a child playing in the falling ash and smoke from a fire in a skip.
The owner of the garage, Ian Lewis, 55, a steelworker for the town’s Tata Steel steelworks, said he thought his hometown was chosen for the artwork due to headlines over air pollution due to the steelworks.
In May the World Heath Organisation had to apologise after it admitted figures identifying Port Talbot as the most polluted town in the UK were wrong. The global body said Port Talbot’s air pollution was measured at 9.6853 micrograms, just under half of the figure it had originally given the town, and below WHO national guideline of 10 micrograms.
A spokesman for Neath Port Talbot Council said: “The Council is sending officers to liaise with the property holder to assist in protecting this artwork. “However it must be remembered that the artwork is on private property and has not yet been confirmed that the artist is Banksy.”
Source – Irish Independent | Image – Ashley Bale via Twitter