UPDATE: Banksy’s "Slave Labour" Mural Up for Auction Again

June 11, 2013

Former home to Banksy’s “Slave Labour” in Wood Green, a suburb north of London.  The street art remaining is anonymous.

The controversial Banksy taken from the wall of a store in Wood Green in up for auction again by the Sincura Group in London.  The stenciled spray paint mural disappeared in May 2012 and resurfaced at an auction house in Miami, where it was withdrawn from the sale under pressure from the Wood Green community and threats of legal action.

The mural under question: Bansky’s “Slave Labour,” 2012.

The building and store owner have not taken any legal action, and the Metropolitan Police of London told the BBC that no crime was reported.  The Sincura Group refuses to reveal the work’s owner and maintains that the sale is
completely legal.  Meanwhile, the community of Wood Green claims ownership of mural and continues to fight for its return.

The community is relieved that the mural is up for auction in London and hope it will remain in London if the £900,000 ($,1371,420) minimum is achieved.  In addition, they are petitioning to remove the mural from auction.

The Member of Parliament for the area, Lynne Featherstone, told the BBC: “This [the auction] is admirable, perhaps, but also incredibly optimistic.  So now I make this direct plea to the owners of the Banksy piece: You have this one last chance to do the right thing.  You have deprived a community of an asset that was given to use for free and greatly enhanced an area that needed it.  I call on you, and your consciences, to pull the piece from both potential sales and return it to its rightful place.”

The mural will appear on the block June 9th.

For our past coverage visit: “Who Owns Street Art?”

Source: “Banksy’s Slave Labour Mural Auctioned in London,” BBC, June 3, 2013.