Banksy's last work seems to no longer exist. The anonymous British urban artist posted photos on Instagram of the silhouette of a child with his cat appearing to open some metal curtains covering a boarded-up wooden window in a ruined country house in Herne Bay, a town on the British coast - and a construction crew on site pulling down the structure.
In typical Banksy style, the artist shared few details about the work or the circumstances surrounding its destruction, other than the title, Morning Is Broken. However, it appears that the demolition was not another Banksy stunt, but rather the work of the owner of the Blacksole Homestead, whose development plans for the site include the construction of 67 homes. “We had no idea it was a Banksy,” contractor George Caudwell told Kent Online. “I felt bad when I realized it was a Banksy – we were devastated.”
The painting is said to have been the first part of the house, dating from 1529, that workers tore down. After knowing the origin of the work, the builders quickly began to search the rubble to see if the piece was still intact. Fortunately, a wooden section that shows most of the stamped figure survives.
“It was like the Holy Grail coming out of a Dumpster,” said Adam Brooks, a local Banksy fan who caught a glimpse of the work's recovery from the rubbish. “I think he must have wanted it destroyed because he often posts his work when he wants people to see it. Obviously, he was waiting for it to be demolished."
The English artist Banksy, anonymously, created his own language on the streets of the world, through stencils and graffiti. His works are easily identifiable by their graphic language and their own characteristics. Children, policemen, rats or monkeys are some of the figures that the artist uses. Deeply figurative, these stencils critically address various social and political issues such as consumerism, political authority and terrorism. «Girl with Balloon» and «The Son of a Migrant from Syria» are two well-known and impressive works by Banksy. Currently, he is one of the most recognized and admired contemporary artists among the younger generations.