The Man in the Bath, Banksy’s famous graffiti from the bombed-out Horenka, a village near Kyiv, has returned to the scene again. It was for this work of art that Reuters journalists went, not to admire it, but to ask nearby residents if they had met Banksy. Then when they were shown photos of featured artists who had been rumored for years to be Banksy, they identified one of them. It was Robert Del Naja, one of the members of Massive Attack. But he wasn’t alone.
“Toward the end of 2022, an ambulance stopped at a bombed-out apartment building in a village near Kiev. Three men got out. One in a gray hood, the other with a cap. Both wore masks.” With these words, Reuters introduces its giant report, the authors of which traveled half the world in Banksy’s footsteps. In addition to the fact that the Ukrainians recognized Del Naja’s face in the photos, it was also confirmed that Del Naja was staying in one of the Kyiv hotels at the time the graffiti was created. Another of the three men mentioned was Giles Duley, a war photographer who lost both his legs and an arm in Afghanistan in 2011. Duley acted as a guide for the pair of men and drove them in an ambulance he had available in Ukraine.
Journalists found that, according to border control, Duley and Del Naja crossed the border between Poland and Ukraine on October 28, 2022. It all started to fit together. But it was still not certain that Del Naja was Banksy. Who was the third – central – guy?
According to journalistic sources, on the same day at the same place, a man named David Jones crossed the border. You would be hard-pressed to find more than a dozen names in Britain, it is about as common as Jan Novák here.
Banksy’s manager, columnist, curator and publisher Steve Lazarides has published several behind-the-scenes photo books. Reuters reporters went through them picture by picture, and one in particular caught their eye. On it was a Marc Jacobs billboard, which Banksy set about repainting in 2000, but did not finish the work – before he could do so, he was arrested by the police.
Journalists caught on to this and began searching for the place where the billboard was placed. Once they were found (675 Hudson Street in Manhattan), all it took was a look at the police records. And they found out that on the 18th of September 2000 at 4:20 in the morning they arrested and put in all the documentation a British man named Robin Gunningham.
Gunningham is a Bristol-based street artist who has been rumored as Banksy for years, just like Del Najo. It bothered Gunningham, he didn’t want to cause a stir in this connection, so he preferred to officially change his name. He needed Gunningham out of the media and the whispers, and what’s more, it would be best if he never returned to her. And so he had the most inconspicuous name possible, David Jones, on his ID card.
The text mentioned above is really just a very brief summary of the incredibly extensive work of the Reuters team, which has been on Banksy’s trail for years. In Britain, in Manhattan and in Kyiv. They came to the conclusion that Banksy is actually David Jones, or Robin Gunningham, with Robert Del Naja being his long-time friend, role model, sometimes partner and co-author of some works. Of course, we don’t know for sure until someone catches them in the act or they confess themselves. But when Massive Attack come to visit us again, you can give Del Naja a conspiratorial glance.
