Banksy : One Nation Under CCTV 

The artwork is called : « One Nation Under CCTV '. It has been realized by the famous graphic artist Banksy in april 17th 2008 in the middle of London, in Westminster on Oxford street a famous street of London with a lots of shops, tourists and inhabitants but he has chosen to paint it on a dirty and nutral grey wall of a building with apartements on an intersection next to the road and a little street. 

On the right of his artwork there is a security camera among so many others in London with a light, there is also a dustbin shed with reds bin protected by a green gate and resistant barriers with pykes at the top 

Banksy has painted this grafitti of seven meters high with a stencil and a paint spray under the cover of a scaffold because this building was under renovation. 

He has represented a little blond kid with red jacket and with his hood, a grey bag, a black short and black shoes. 

He's holding a little wooden ladder on his right hand and a brush on his left hand. 

The kid is painting a « T » in white on the dirty and nutral grey wall, in big characters and capital letters for a lots of people can see his artwork of the road and from afar, the sentence : « One nation under CCTV » and this white motto is dripping. 

At the bottom left there's a rather tall policeman with his blue uniform and his blue hat. He has a moustache and a camera on his hands and a brown dog at his feet. 

The main colors are grey, white, red and blue.

It reminds us the tale of the little red riding hood when the little girl is eaten by the wolf.  

So, why Banksy realized this giant piece of work in this place ? 

The little blond kid is maybe representing Banksy which brings us to fight versus  CCTV and especially for the new generations and the future, to be united because only one kid or a man cannot fight alone versus CCTV and voyeurism because he’s to small 

The words are dripping because the kid had to hurry to not be seen by CCTV, but the policeman has seen him and he photographs him, and that shows people are not watched only by CCTV but also by themselves and police. 

Banksy is an anarchist so maybe the dog is representing people who obey and who do anything to stop the voyeurism because he is at the feet of the policeman in waiting that policeman, his master gives him an order because people are dominated by overs who are more powerful and stronger 

With this piece of work Banksy wanted to demonstrate in London, one of the most controlled cities of the world because of all the CCTV there are in London and one of the most famous city in the world the motivation of the pervers control society who’s constantly watching us and what we do and which drill our intimacy 

Banksy wants especially to make people aware to they are constantly watched and they can’t do what they want because we are not free and what we are all in « borrowed time » because of the multiplication of CCTV particulary in England which is very disturbing above all for the future because we will cannot go out any more without having the impression to be always watched by CCTV, on internet, and by people themselves 

The word « CCTV » replaces the word « God », on the religious sentence « One nation under God », which shows people are not anymore under the surveillance and the autority of God, but under the autority of gouvernement, police and powerful people. 

I really like this artwork because it denounces the voyeurism of the control society who’s somtimes perverse I think and when I look this artwork it leaves me cold because I feel suddendly observed by a camera, a social networks or both and I realise that is rather easy to spy someone especially with social networks so I feel in insecurity  in spite of CCTV are there to protected people, so I agree with this artwork but not completly because CCTV instead of I think we are sometimes watched, CCTV are also here for our security, so I don’t think we have to removed all the CCTV but stopped to multiplicated it, so, it’s scared me for the future. 

To conclude I will say that : 

Should we regulate the use of security camera, remove all the security camera or multiplicated it ? Do you really want to be always watched ? Do you prefer to be live safer with camera or be more unsafe but with more privacy a,nd freedom