Banksy unmasked as Robert Gunningham through investigations

He has been living among the people, in plain sight, and building a multi-million dollar industry through art. But the intriguing part about him is his identity. For almost 25 years, no one knew who or what operated as Banksy. But this was about to change. A full-fledged identity investigation by the Reuters journalists have finally been successful in masking the man behind it all …and the story starts with a hand-written confession back in the 2000s.

Here’s how Banksy was unmasked by the investigators

For those curious to know how this grand deception was finally unmasked, will be in a for surprise to learn the truth. It is said that Banksy is Robert Gunningham who has been living with the identity of David Jones since the 2008. Born in Bristol in the year 1973, he was arrested in 2000 by the New York Police Department for spraying painting on a Marc Jacob billboard, on top of a Manhattan building. For the duration of this case, when he was made to appear in front of legal advisors, his real name, identity and a handwritten confession was involved. This got buried under years of dust and for 25 years he safely hid his real face. This is one of primary evidences which the investigators could lay their hands on, which has today, lifted the hidden identity. Apart from this major evidence, several others like passport details and Ukraine murals also supported the claims of his identity.

Interestingly, Gunningham had mentioned time and again that nobody heard his voice until he chose anonymity, and then the world turned to him. Spanning over years, the trail to find the missing identity, started in Ukraine which hosts many of his wall murals. Thorough investigations, questioning the locals, researching documents finally unearthed the answers everyone was seeking.

Banksy’s identity leads one to question themselves on how anonymity can be played for in one’s favour and how hiding the identity at times, becomes profitable to people. Gunningham not only hid his birth identity with a legal name change, but also conveniently remained in plain sight and yet unrecognisable while building a creative empire.

However, even after evidences and proof, Banksy’s team has first requested to maintain the anonymity and second, never went on to accept the claims on record. So, does the story of the anonymous artist continue? Or it has reached full circle?

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