His face stares down from parking signs, lampposts and municipal brickwork – his smile at odds with the one-word command stencilled beneath: “Obey”. These graffiti paste-ups dot the city, a parody of Shepard Fairey’s famous image of Andre the Giant and a very Bristolian kind of political statement – this is Banksy’s home turf, after all.
Bristol mayor George Ferguson’s critics accuse him of being authoritarian but others praise him as a mayor who gets things done – a refreshing change from the ineffectiveness of previous councils. Either way, he gets Bristolians talking, and it’s hard to think of many other local politicians who have inspired their own semi-ironic dystopian graffiti campaign.
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