‘Are you Banksy?’: the day the world’s most enigmatic street artist painted a mural on the side of my house | World

I had never seen so many smiling people in London.

Banksy, the most famous unknown in the world, decided that the wall of the building where I live was the perfect setting for his latest mural, a work that could be worth millions of dollars.

Since the painting appeared on Sunday (3/17), people have gathered around my window smiling and looking at me like, “Can I go into the garden and take a photo?”

I then assume that Banksy is mine, and I tell them yes, take all the photos you want.

Nor had I seen so many Londoners so talkative.

I’m used to seeing them quite serious on the subway, avoiding eye contact in the elevator or with their heads covered on rainy days, suddenly I’m surrounded by a bunch of strangers bombarding me with questions.

“Have you seen Banksy? How does it feel to have your own Banksy? What does the work mean? Does it bother you that we’re here? Are they going to raise the price of your rent?”

Some are bolder and get straight to the point: “Are you Banksy?”

I’m not saying yes, but I’m not saying no either.

Others, in a gesture that is a mixture of modesty and kindness, give money to their young children, who come running to my window to offer me a reward for providing them with a beautiful souvenir.

At that moment, I think about how much I pay in rent, and that the value could skyrocket with this Banksy work. But after a brief moment, I fill myself with dignity and tell them no thanks, they’d better use the money to buy sweets at the market next door.

Someone, clearly with a better business sense than me, suggested I put the apartment on AirBnB: “Beautiful apartment decorated with an original Banksy,” a sort of BanksyBnB.

A cherry tree that bears apples

No, I haven’t seen Banksy. I wasn’t even home when he painted the mural.

Everything indicates that it happened in the early hours of Sunday morning, so my consolation is that, even if I had been there, it probably happened so quickly that I wouldn’t have noticed.

I arrived after noon, and there were already people taking photos, making videos and, of course, speculating about the work.

Several noted that the mural coincided with St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, a celebration in which the color green prevails.

Additionally, he chose the same green color used on social housing signs in Islington, the north London neighborhood where the mural is located.

On Monday, the artist published some photos on his Instagram confirming that he is the author of the work — but other than that, the rest are just theories and speculation.

It looks like Banksy, whatever that means, used a fire extinguisher to shoot the paint into the cracked wall.

The real tree is a cherry tree and it is very sick, it looks dead, which is why some say that Banksy revived the foliage with the painting.

And the girl, or boy, holding a hose similar to those used for fumigation. Would it be a message about nature?

The work is still alive, some people arrive with apples, and place them around the trunk, as if they had fallen from the branches. This is how Banksy created the only cherry tree that bears apples.

If we put together the clues about the work and the ways in which people interact with it, the interpretations are endless, as is the case with all of the artist’s interventions.

When I woke up on Wednesday (3/20), I saw that someone had thrown white paint on the mural. Could it be vandalism?

15 minutes of fame

Now my house is a tourist attraction.

While writing this article, I take a few breaks, and people hand me their cell phones so I can take photos of them.

In less than an hour, I gave interviews to the local, Japanese, German press and to students who will soon be professional colleagues.

An Australian boy gave me an instant photo as a gift, I said “hi” to the followers of a Mexican woman who was broadcasting live on TikTok, and a Colombian, like me, told me that if she were in my place, she would already be selling arepas and beer.

A Norwegian, who would only be in London for 8 hours, decided that her priority was to come and see the mural.

This is art

I’m from Cartagena, in the Colombian Caribbean.

There, because of the heat, it is normal to always leave the windows open and take rocking chairs to the front door “to get some fresh air” and talk to people passing by.

Here in London, that doesn’t happen, so I’m feeling at ease these days.

Yesterday, after six months of living in this apartment, thanks to the mural I spoke for the first time with my neighbor, a Somali who is now worried about his privacy in front of so many people around him.

And so I have spent my days, meeting people from different countries, receiving congratulations as if I had some merit in all of this, waving like a Miss and explaining my opinion about the mural: “I’m not an expert, but I believe that…”.

I’m happy, I don’t know if I’ll still be happy at the weekend when a horde of tourists decide that after seeing Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, their next stop will be my apartment.

This mural appeared at the end of winter, when the city starts to fill with color, and everyone’s mood improves.

So for me, this was the best start to spring. Thanks to an enigmatic genius, a dying tree, and a crumbling wall, I surrounded myself with cool people, and I felt that even though I’m an immigrant, I’m truly part of this community.

That’s art, I suppose.