Banksy (1974) - Welcome Mat - Edition 500

Banksy, Welcome Mat, 2019. Doormat issued for the opening of Gross Domestic Product, the artist's Croydon showroom, in October 2019. The orange lettering is hand-stitched into coir using fabric from life jackets abandoned on Mediterranean beaches, sewn by women in refugee camps in Greece for the NGO Love Welcomes.

Publisher: Gross Domestic Product, Croydon, with Love Welcomes; made in Greece
Material: coir, lettering stitched in recovered life jacket fabric
Shipping: flat in a rigid box, tracked and fully insured

About the artist
Banksy is an anonymous British artist who emerged from the Bristol graffiti scene in the 1990s and works mainly in stencil. His subjects are satirical: war, policing, consumption and the treatment of migrants. His projects outside the gallery system include Dismaland (2015), The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem (2017) and Gross Domestic Product in Croydon (2019).

Similar artists: Blek le Rat, Shepard Fairey, Invader, JR, D*Face, Nick Walker, Faile, Stik