The vessel is currently operating in the Mediterranean.
UK street artist Banksy has financed a boat with the mission to rescue refugees fleeing from North Africa to Europe. Painted in bright pink and featuring Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel (named after a French anarchist), sails under a German flag, and is now looking for a safe seaport to disembark the passengers or to transfer them to a European coastguard vessel.
Banksy’s involvement in the rescue mission can be traced back to September 2019, when he sent an email to Pia Klemp, a former captain of several NGO boats that have rescued thousands of people over the past years. ‘Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers. You sound like a badass. I am an artist from the UK and I’ve made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously, I can’t keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy‘, wrote the legendary artist.
At first, Klemp though she was at the end of a prank, believes she was chosen by Bansky due to her political view on the subject, as she doesn’t ‘see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist fight’.
