(Pic #1) A Banksy mural metaphorically slamming Putin and the Russian Federation
The work of mysterious British muralist “Banksy” now joins the virtual time capsule of images created by artists chronicling the war in Ukraine. The recent work by the iconic street artist is being immortalized by “Ukrposhta” — the Ukrainian National Post Office — as a 2023 postage stamp. The release marks the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion.
The image depicted on the Banksy stamp is a photograph of a mural he painted in the city of Borodyanka. (Pic #1) “A little boy who knocks out a grown man is an allegorical image – this is the struggle of Ukraine against the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian postal service said. In the picture, a young boy uses the art of Judo to flip the man, and it is well-known that Mr. Putin has passion for Martial Arts, and has reportedly earned a black belt. The illustration is accompanied by six Cyrillic letters that stand as a not-so-veiled shorthand for “Putin, go fuck yourself.”
(Pic #2) The grand flip-off by a Ukrainian soldier to a Russian Warship (Postage stamp)
George Orwell once quipped that “every joke is a tiny revolution.” Ukrainians are proof positive of this premise, as Ukrposhta has now printed more than 30 politically-charged images painted by Ukrainian artists. Many believe comedy — and irreverence — is the country’s way of coping with unfathomable trauma. One local comedian interviewed by Associated Press suggests simply that they are “using humor as a weapon to keep spirits up.”
On another stamp, (Pic #2) you see a Russian warship approaching a group of Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea, ordering Ukraine’s surrender. The guards responded — while flipping the bird —“Hey, Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”
Are you seeing a pattern here?
