‘It’s Robbie’: Banksy revealed his real name in long-lost BBC interview from 2003? | The art and literature

The 2003 interview is considered one of the rare radio interviews with the graffiti artist. Banksy, then “in his twenties”, was interviewed by cultural journalist Nigel Wrench at an exhibition opening in London. Part of the conversation was broadcast, after which the entire recording disappeared into a drawer in the journalist’s room. His office until the makers of the podcast “The Banksy Story” visited and released the full interview.

A young Banksy says in the interview: “The exhibition is a celebration of vandalism. The exhibition in question will ultimately be the beginning of the artist’s subsequent success.” In the conversation, Banksy says that graffiti, in his opinion, is an “effective” way to reach many people. With art. He adds: “It’s a quick way to get your point across. Vandalism is an art. I won’t apologize for it.” When a BBC journalist reviews the interview today, he is mainly reminded of how honest Banksy is. “He answered the questions honestly,” Wrench says.

But the most striking part of the recording comes from before the actual interview. In the podcast, the video makers reveal the beginning of the audio recording, with the journalist testing the audio and asking as a formality: “Is it Robert Banks?”, to which he replies: “It’s Robbie.” “At no time did he ask me to use only his stage name,” Wrench recalls. “There is no reason to believe he was lying at the time, although today I prefer to believe we don’t know.”