Banksy Unveils Poignant London Murals Amid Holiday Rush

On December 22, 2025, the famously elusive street artist Banksy broke his silence—at least on Instagram—to confirm that a new mural appearing in London is indeed his handiwork. The artwork, a striking black and white depiction of two children lying on the ground in winter hats and boots, one pointing skyward, materialized above a row of garages on Queen’s Mews in Bayswater, west London. Almost simultaneously, an identical mural surfaced outside the Centre Point tower on Tottenham Court Road in central London, a location loaded with history and symbolism.

Banksy authenticated the Bayswater mural by posting two photos of it to his official Instagram account, as reported by multiple outlets including BBC, CNN, and The Guardian. The Centre Point version, while not yet featured on Banksy’s social media, was widely attributed to him due to its identical style and imagery. This dual appearance set the city abuzz, with art enthusiasts, locals, and the media scrambling to interpret the meaning behind these wintery children gazing up at the sky.

While on the surface, the mural appears almost sweet—two bundled-up kids stargazing, perhaps dreaming of a brighter world—the context of its locations and timing has led many to see a deeper, more somber message. Artist Daniel Lloyd-Morgan, speaking to BBC, offered a poignant interpretation: “Everybody is having a good time but there are a lot of children who are not having a good time at Christmas.” He went on to observe that people in the busy area were “ignoring it,” adding, “They walk past homeless people and they don’t see them lying on the street.” The mural, he suggested, is a subtle but powerful commentary on the plight of child homelessness during the festive season, when such suffering is often overlooked amid the holiday bustle.

This reading is bolstered by the choice of Centre Point as a canvas. The tower, completed in 1966 and left empty for more than a decade, became a symbol of Britain’s housing crisis and the stark divide between wealth and poverty. Its presence sparked outrage among social justice campaigners, and in 1969, the homelessness charity Centrepoint was founded in direct response. The charity’s founder, Reverend Ken Leech, famously described the building as “an affront to the homeless.” In a twist of irony, the block has since been transformed into multimillion-pound luxury flats, a transformation that only sharpens the contrast Banksy seems to highlight.

According to The New York Times, the new murals arrive at a particularly fraught moment for Britain. In October 2025, government data revealed that more than 170,000 children in the country were living in temporary accommodations—a record high and a significant increase over the previous year. For many observers, the children in Banksy’s mural, lying on the cold ground amid the city’s detritus, evoke the harsh reality faced by thousands of young people across the UK.

Jason Tomkins, a Banksy enthusiast and expert, told BBC he believes the artwork is “a clear statement on homelessness.” He also noted an intriguing detail: the boy in the mural bears a striking resemblance to a child depicted in a previous Banksy piece from Port Talbot in 2018, where the figure was shown catching snowflakes on his tongue. “This is quite unusual for him to use the same little boy again, because he has never done that,” Tomkins remarked, suggesting perhaps a deliberate echo or a deepening of Banksy’s ongoing commentary on childhood and vulnerability.

Despite the widespread speculation and analysis, Banksy himself has offered no public commentary on the meaning or significance of these new works. This is par for the course for the artist, whose real identity remains a closely guarded secret—though names like Robin Gunningham and Robert Del Naja (of Massive Attack fame) are frequently floated. Banksy’s practice of letting the public and the press debate the meaning of his art is as much a part of his mystique as the works themselves.

The new murals follow a pattern established in previous years, where Banksy has used the holiday season as an opportunity to deliver social commentary through public art. In September 2025, he created a mural on the wall of the Royal Courts of Justice showing a judge looming over an unarmed protester holding a blood-splattered placard. That piece, with its overtly political message, was quickly removed by authorities, citing the historic significance of the building. In 2024, Banksy created an animal trail around London, featuring creatures like goats, elephants, and gorillas—a lighter but still socially resonant project.

Yet, the new murals in Bayswater and at Centre Point are more contemplative than confrontational. Their message, if one is to be found, is delivered not through explicit protest but through quiet juxtaposition: the innocence of childhood against the indifference of urban life, the warmth of holiday celebrations against the cold reality of homelessness. The children’s upward gaze, as Lloyd-Morgan observed, is “kind of like they’re stargazing… It’s quite fitting that the kids are pointing up like they’re looking at the North Star.” The North Star, after all, has long been a symbol of hope and guidance for the lost.

Notably, the appearance of the murals has not been met with the same swift removal as Banksy’s September work. Perhaps the more subtle message, or the absence of direct political critique, has allowed these pieces to remain—for now—part of London’s urban landscape. Still, as with much of Banksy’s output, their fate is uncertain. His works have been known to attract both vandals and art thieves, as well as fervent defenders eager to preserve them for public appreciation.

For Londoners and visitors alike, the new murals offer a moment of reflection amid the holiday rush. They serve as a reminder that, even in a city of wealth and spectacle, there are stories of hardship and exclusion that demand attention. Whether Banksy intended a specific message or simply left the interpretation to the public, his latest works have succeeded in sparking conversation—and perhaps, for some, a little more compassion this Christmas.

In a city where the line between public art and social critique is always blurred, Banksy’s winter children have once again challenged Londoners to look up, look around, and not look away.