‘Mali Girl’
(Timbuktu, January 2009)
Stencil, freehand, spray paint and acrylic on a concrete block wall
Size: 117 x 123 cm. (46 x 48.43 in)
(Unique)
Estimate: 325,000
/ 375,000 euro
(Listed in the ‘Catalogue Raisonne of Banksy’s Street Art’, as No. 794)
DESCRIPTION
- The artwork on this wall piece depicts a little girl in a long
checkered dress, with one hand on her lap, the other one outstretched
towards a little yellow bird. It is consequently an extraordinarily
important work and is the only survived witness to Banksy’s residency in
Africa.
PROVENANCE
- This artwork, called ‘Mali Girl’ was quintessential Banksy and
was confirmed as created by him together with the other at his 2009 summer
exhibition in Bristol, called ‘Banksy versus Bristol Museum’, which featured
studies and sketches of the Mali project, alongside a vast portfolio of
stencils, sculptures, paintings, mixed media works and photographs.
THE STORY BEHIND
- In January 2009, Banksy visited Africa. During a short stint in the city
of Timbuktu, he created six artworks. These brilliant murals, were all made
with keen observation and a good eye for humor. For who does not know,
Timbuktu is the regional capital in the center of Mali, just on the border
of the Sahara. Only this beautiful Banksy mural, called ‘Mali Girl’
survived, the rest falling foul to vandalism and the Civil War between the
Islamic Tuareg rebels of the MNLA and Ansar Dine. With risk for his own life,
a constructor rescued this magnificent Banksy artwork called ‘Mali Girl’ and so it has been saved now for the future.
AUCTION 26 NOVEMBER 2022
Lichtmisweg 51 - 8035 PL - Zwolle - The Netherlands
For more information please call our office at contact@hessink.com or +31 (0)6 53 91 01 32