Banksy’s identity finally revealed in lost BBC interview?

From Banksy Emerging as a street artist in the early 2000s, one of the most intriguing aspects of the Bristol-based painter has been his identity. Over the years, several people have been linked to his nickname, including gorillaz co-creator Jaime Hewletta comic book illustrator who also co-created tank girl, and Massive Attack co-founder Robert Del Naja, based on the fact that they are both natives of Bristol and Del Naja also dabbled in graffiti.

Now, an unearthed bbc The 2003 recording seems to confirm that Banksy is indeed a Robert, but not Del Naja.

In an interview between the up-and-coming street artist and former BBC arts correspondent Nigel Wrench before the Banksy unveiling War for territory At a show in east London in the summer of 2003, Wrench asked if he could use Banksy’s real name in the interview, citing that The independent I had already used it. Wrench then asks if his name is “Robert Banks” and the artist replies, “he’s Robbie.”

An edited version of the recording was recently used as part of the BBC podcast series. The story of Banksy, which was released in July. Wrench, after listening to the podcast series, was inspired to revisit the entire original recording and discovered crucial information about the artist that was never used.

In the newly released interview, a young Banks also talks about whether graffiti should be considered vandalism. “If done correctly it is illegal! But I got a good reaction. I think about most of the people at my work. You know, in the past there were even police officers who said they liked some things, but… I just think I have the right to go out and paint it,” he says.

“And it’s also someone else’s right to go out and paint over it if they don’t like it, you know? It actually doesn’t take long with a bucket of white paint to paint over things. I think it’s better if you treat the city like one big playground, you know? It’s there to play, you know?

The lost audio portion can now be heard in The story of Banksy bonus episode, which was released on November 21 and is available on bbc sounds.