身為攝影師兼街頭藝術家的作者Alessandra Mattanza，踏查收集享譽國際卻始終神秘低調的街頭藝術大師班克斯的街頭作品，收錄部分隨著時光流逝而佚失的作品，並分析班克斯如何以對抗與突破體制、嘲笑既有藝術制度的手法，將街頭塗鴉轉化成醒世且驚艷世人的藝術。 The most wide-ranging and up-to-date volume available on the enigmatic and controversial graffiti artist, this deeply researched and highly personal tribute explores how Banksy continues to defy accepted wisdom about artistic success, growing only more famous and powerful even as he sticks to his anti-establishment platform and to his mission to give a voice to the voiceless. Accompanied by stunning full-page, full-color reproductions and photographs of works in situ—including many that have been lost to time­–photographer and street art expert Alessandra Mattanza’s impassioned and informed text follows Banksy’s career trajectory from creator of message-laden stencils on London’s city walls to a sought-after champion of human and environmental rights. She investigates many of the key images that populate Banksy’s work—animals, children, historic figures, balloons, cartoon characters, police officers, and others. She shows how Banksy’s oeuvre has expanded beyond graffiti and stenciling and how his art has helped support his activism in a variety of causes—from calls for peace in the Middle East to the preservation of the natural environment. Best of all she helps readers make sense of the rather unusual path Banksy has chosen—an artist who uses his global platform to raise awareness about the underserved, rather than to his own celebrity. Readers will come away with a new understanding of how Banksy helped transform an illegal act of criminal damage into a high art form, and how, by ridiculing institutionalized art, he has achieved enormous fame within those very institutions.