Banksy at Glastonbury Through The Years

Banksy's relationship with Glastonbury Festival is long-running, subversive, and distinctly in tune with the event’s countercultural ethos. His artistic interventions at the festival span over two decades, each work responding to the sociopolitical climate of its time with the artist’s trademark wit and provocation.

Banksy's first known Glastonbury piece, Silent Majority, was painted on the side of a portable trailer used by a group of travellers attending the festival. It featured soldiers storming a beach with riot gear while a pensioner looks on from a deckchair — a satirical nod to authority, invasion, and leisure culture. The piece later gained notoriety in the art market when it went up for sale with the trailer still attached, raising complex questions about ownership and the ephemeral nature of street art.

Installed near the Kidz Field, Lost Children took a darker turn. This unsettling sculpture garden included distorted playground figures and twisted references to childhood innocence lost amidst modern conflict and neglect. It aligned with Banksy's growing global reputation for embedding political critiques in supposedly benign or playful imagery. The eerie presence of this installation subtly critiqued societal failure to protect the vulnerable.

Perhaps one of his most tongue-in-cheek interventions, Portaloo Sunset—often dubbed “Boghenge”—was a reimagining of Stonehenge made entirely from portaloos. Beyond the humorous façade lay a deeper commentary on consumerism, waste, and the festival experience itself. The absurdist monument reminded audiences of the ancient versus the temporary, and the sacred versus the profane.

In 2010, Banksy contributed a mural to the festival site depicting a person bearing peace sign bearing down onto a person clutching a sign depicting a heart. Peace vs Love was read as a reflection on the complexities of activism, conflict, and commodified peace narratives — particularly resonant during a decade marked by anti-war movements and debates about performative protest culture.

Originally premiered in New York in 2013, Sirens of the Lambs made a modified appearance at Glastonbury in 2014. The disturbing installation featured a delivery truck full of squealing animatronic stuffed animals, peeking out from abattoir-style slats. Its commentary on animal cruelty, food industry ethics, and anthropomorphism was magnified by the festival setting — a place where conscious living and consumer indulgence often collide.

While not a physical installation at the festival site itself, Banksy's contribution of the Union Jack stab-proof vest worn by Stormzy during his historic 2019 Pyramid Stage performance was a cultural lightning bolt. The garment — designed by Banksy — transformed Stormzy’s set into a statement on racial injustice, systemic violence, and British identity. It marked a fusion of music, performance, and visual protest art that remains iconic in the festival’s history.

During the 2024 edition of Glastonbury, Banksy sent a remote-controlled inflatable boat filled with dummy migrants into the crowd during IDLES' performance of “Danny Nedelko.” The piece was initially mistaken as part of the act but later confirmed by Banksy via Instagram. It drew criticism from some political figures, including the Home Secretary, while others praised it as a visceral commentary on Britain's treatment of migrants and the Mediterranean crisis. The act also tied into Banksy's real-world support of the MV Louise Michel rescue vessel.

A second 2024 intervention, Terminal 1, was a makeshift installation mimicking an airport departure gate, humorously and critically highlighting themes of global travel restrictions, surveillance, and climate anxiety. Festivalgoers reported mock security checks, parody signage, and tongue-in-cheek announcements — a play on the increasing friction between freedom of movement and political borders, especially poignant in the post-Brexit landscape.

Banksy's Glastonbury legacy forms a parallel narrative to the festival itself — growing from irreverent grassroots to global cultural force. His installations have traversed humour, horror, satire, and solidarity, each time delivering a sharp visual jolt amidst the music and mud. Whether it's a floating migrant boat or a port-a-loo Stonehenge, Banksy’s interventions blur the line between art, activism, and anarchy — and Glastonbury has always been the perfect stage.