A brand new statue has appeared on Waterloo Place in central London, with the signature of the elusive avenue artist Banksy etched into its plinth.
Sightings of the statue had been first reported on Wednesday 29 April. The art work depicts a suited man carrying a big flag which covers his face, blinding him as he steps ahead midway off of the plinth. The colouration of the statue and its plinth mirror the bronze and granite monuments close by on the plaza-like highway, together with the Duke of York Column, the Guards Crimean Struggle memorial, and statues of nurse Florence Nightingale and statesman Lord Lea.
Waterloo Place, the place the statue stays at time of publishing, is situated within the St James’s neighbourhood, dwelling to varied gents’s golf equipment and artwork and luxurious companies, and located near the numerous authorities buildings and overseas embassies of Westminster. How and when the statue was erected on this busy intersection has but to be reported.
Waterloo Place in central London, the place a brand new, seemingly unauthorised statue has been erected
Photograph: Patrick Slezak. Courtesy Adobe Inventory
The British artist, whose identification has been the topic of a lot hypothesis and investigation, has been more and more lively within the UK capital during the last two years. In summer season 2024, a sequence of stencilled animal silhouettes appeared throughout town and on a London Zoo constructing. In September 2025, Banksy drew controversy for an unauthorised mural on the Royal Courts of Justice, which was rapidly eliminated by the HM Courts and Tribunals Service. Banksy usually posts new works on his Instagram account of 13.8m followers, thereby authenticating them as real.
The statue at Waterloo Place has but to be posted, and due to this fact authenticated, on Banksy’s official Instagram, though it has reportedly already drawn crowds. The Artwork Newspaper contacted the artist for remark.
