Banksy's valentine message.

Ah. I quite ike it. I like his work, generally, especially Dismaland and the shredding painting.. Always nervous to open threads on people I like, only to discover they've come out as misogynist. He's not done that, thankfully; it would absolutely undermine his other work if he did.

Yeah, I don't think the message is "if you haven't got a black eye, then you're not being abused" - I don't really see how you got to that conclusion from this image. I don't think he's suggesting that victims are responsible for getting the men to stop by literally throwing them in the freezer. It represents a victim of domestic violence being freed.

You also complain that many men might not get the message. I think it's pretty self explanatory, but even if they did miss the message - so what? Is art made exclusively for men? It's fine to have artwork that speaks mainly to women.

Raising awareness of domestic violence is a good thing. His atheistic might not be to your taste but you cant argue with the message. And I interpret the message as a being fairly simple one most people can get behind: 'abusers can get in the bin'. As PP states, job done. Its street art not a museum piece, what it does is to reinforce the message that kind of behavior is socially unacceptable (as well as illegal).

It is like most art: you can interpret it how you like. The interpretation is the point.

I suppose that he is being subversive in that the subjects are not stereotypical knuckle-draggers, they could be your - apparently - naice neighbours. DV is more common than you (you=the populace) think.

Exactly. I don’t want Banksy to be subtle and nuanced, I want his art to slap everyone with reality. Job done.

I think it's brilliant.

He’s trying to acknowledge and make a statement against DV, why do we have to try and find the bad in that when so so many men do absolutely nothing at all.

I think Banksy is brilliant, nobody like him artwise, his art is spot on....sends powerful messages and creates world conversation about a full range of world issues that need addressing and thinking about. This piece shows I think that women will no longer tolerate DV and will do what they need to in order to sort out these issues and Banksy doing his thing is wonderful ....the lady in the picture has a wicked smile as if to say, don't stand for any nonsense..as she closes the freezer door ...brill....

Yes of course women don’t need to lose teeth or get black eyes to experience domestic violence but if you are capturing a victim of domestic violence in one simple image, then physical injuries is the obvious way. He’s not saying the answer is to put abusers in the fridge, you’re taking it too literally. He has just used the fridge that is already there and incorporated it into an image of a woman rebelling against abuse. It’s subverting the image of the traditional housewife and making it a powerful and disturbing image to provoke a reaction.

I quite like it.

Having a good valentine's clear out, dump him with the unwanted rubbish.

Dumping the wife beater among the other rubbish.

She's clearing out the trash.

And I feel the 50's clothes is a message to say not much has changed in some ways.

It makes a change to see violence against women acknowledged. There have been lots of campaigns such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion in this country but you hear so little about violence against women, which is an enormous problem in this country. If Banksy wants to give a nod to women in his style then that’s fine in my book. Sometimes this Valentine’s Day crap needs a bit of biting subversion.

Perhaps the guy was sat on the edge of the open freezer and somehow has fallen backwards into it. The woman is in the process of reaching out to finish slamming the lid, which had partly closed on him. That's my interpretation anyway.

Nice he's done something against DV, even if it is a bit muddled.

I opened this post with such trepidation and am relieved to see Banksy doing something that at least references violence against women. It’s provocative and gritty - not pretty. Looks like a bit of opportunistic artwork inspired by the fly-tipping. When the council remove the freezer he’s going to have to fill in the blank space - unless the freezer has suddenly become a piece of art in its own right?! Quick! Hire a van 😊

@andweallsingalong you nailed it

If the question is will men understand the domestic violence reference, I think most would. Precisely because it is the stereotypical presentation of domestic violence and even a cliche joke about how a women might react. Something more subtle would not be understood by most.

is it good art? That is an entirely different question.

What I take from this is a bloke standing up making a statement to say he is against DV whilst so many look away.

It doesn't bother me if his delivery isn't perfect.

To me when the majority vocally stand against it the minority are under more pressure to change and have more eyes on them to (predominantly) women's benefit.

It's art
It's an interpretation of a scenario

If the women's supposed to have pushed the guy in the freezer how did his feet wind up on the other side. If she pushed him so hard he somersault his feet would be the other way up.....

The photo is in the article