The City Council of Irpin, a Kyiv suburb, has bestowed the title of its Honorary Citizen to Banksy, the renowned British street artist.
The City Council website, which published the decision on Friday, says that “Banksy left his graffiti on one of the houses ruined by ruscists in Irpin, thus drawing the world community’s attention to the scale of the destruction of Irpin and perpetuating the history of Irpin’s struggle and the idea of its revival with his creative work.”
Earlier, the artist confirmed to The Art Newspaper that he had created seven murals in various locations in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Irpin and Borodyanka – hit hard by Russian shelling during the first month of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The latter two had also been occupied by the enemy, which left behind dozens of mass graves with the bodies of tortured and killed civilians.
In March, before Irpin and Borodyanka were liberated, a print of one of Banksy’s most famous anti-war pieces, CND Soldiers, was sold at auction, raising $106,505 for a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
