Banksy: New mural showing tree leaves appears in London

A new artwork by British street artist Banksy appeared in London and was confirmed by the anonymous artist on his social media account Monday.  

The work, which appeared in the Finsbury Park area of northern London, uses green paint sprayed across the side of a four-story building to imitate the missing leaves of a heavily pruned tree that stands a few meters in front of it.

It also shows a small figure holding a pressure hose next to the leaves.

When viewed from certain angles, the green paint lines up with the tree's branches.

Corbyn hails 'environmental' message of Banksy piece

Independent lawmaker and former leader of the Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, hailed the Banksy piece in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

"Banksy has come to Islington! What wonderful artwork, proving there is hope for our natural world everywhere," Corbyn said.

Corbyn represents the district of Islington in parliament, which includes Finsbury Park.

He said the artwork "makes people stop and think, 'Hang on. We live in one world. We live in one environment. It is vulnerable and on the cusp of serious damage being done to it.'"

"Environmental politics is about densely populated urban areas like this, just as much as it is about farmland and woodland and hedges," he added.

Who is Banksy?

Banksy began his career spray-painting buildings in the southwestern English city of Bristol. He has never confirmed his full identity.

He has become one of the world's most well-known artists, with some of his works selling for millions of dollars at auction.

In December, a man was photographed using bolt cutters to take down a stop sign in south London that had a Banksy stencil on it depicting military drones. Police later arrested two men on suspicion of theft and criminal damage over the incident.

sdi/wd (Reuters, AP)