OWithout the knowledge of the community, a section of wall with a work by Banksy has been dismantled in the eastern English town of Lowestoft. The mysterious street artist had spray-painted the oversized seagull, which appears to be pouncing on a container with rubbish, on a house in the coastal town of Lowestoft in August 2021.
A city spokesman told the BBC on Wednesday the artwork was removed overnight. Since the building is privately owned, the municipality had no authority and there was no information about what the owner was planning. “The artwork was a magnet for tourists and made Lowestoft a talking point on the national stage,” the spokesman said. The district of East Suffolk was disappointed.
Mayor Alan Green recently said he had been assured the work would not be removed. The wall was only scaffolded to stabilize it. But on Tuesday evening, a large crane removed the piece of wall, the BBC reported.
The seagull near the train station was one of three Banksy works that had appeared in Lowestoft at the time. He had also left murals in other coastal towns entitled “A Great British Spraycation” – a pun on staycation (stay at home) and spray (spraying), Banksy’s preferred working method. The English North Sea coast was once a popular holiday destination for many Brits, but has been left behind economically for decades.