In his new work, Banksy supported an artist from Turkey who went to prison for a "radical" illustration

He's back. Banksy is back in New York - for the first time since 2013 — and this time he is decorating the famous Houston Bowery Wall in the heart of the city with his work. The final touch of the British master anonymous is a high-profile project in support of Zehra Dogan, an artist and journalist from Turkey.

The painting is a set of marks on an empty wall — imitating how prisoners cross out the days spent behind bars, thus keeping a calendar. One of these square drawings is a portrait of Dogan behind bars, where one of the pieces of iron is a pencil.

Source: Artnet News

In the lower right corner of the wall, the name of the canvas is "Freedom of Zehre Dogan!".

Portrait of Zehra Dogan behind bars.

In March 2017, a court in Turkey sentenced Zehra Dogan to almost three years in prison because of an illustration she drew: she painted a watercolor photo of the destroyed by the Turkish military city of Nusaybin, inhabited by Kurds. This city was destroyed in 2015, and two years later the artist posted an illustration on her social networks via Instagram, on which Turkish flags were painted on top of the devastation.

Banksy

Apparently, the artist was given a prison sentence for sympathy for the political motives of the Kurds: the authorities suspected her of belonging to the "Kurdistan Workers' Party". This organization stands for the autonomy of the region of the same name and is recognized as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

Every night, Banksy will project a huge resolution of Dogan's canvas right above her work to draw attention to her prison sentence.

Banksy in an interview with NYT

The last time Banksy left his mark in New York was on the clock adorning the facade of the former bank and post office in the northwest corner of Sixth Avenue. It depicted a rat (one of the trademark symbols of his works) running inside the clock as in a wheel — a sharp metaphor for the busy life of a modern New Yorker.