British street artist Banksy is funding a boat to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean attempting to reach Europe from Africa.
The boat, named “Louise Michel” after a French feminist anarchist, has been operational since last week. On Thursday, it rescued 89 people, including 14 women and four children, from a rubber boat in distress, the group said on its website.
The 89 migrants are still onboard the boat and waiting for a safe port to disembark.
A former French Navy boat daubed in pink and white, the 30-metre long Louise Michel was bought with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artwork, the group said. The side of the vessel’s cabin features an artwork of a girl holding a heart-shaped life buoy, his familiar stencilled style.
The Bristol-born artist, who keeps his identity a secret, is known for his political or social-commentary graffiti that has popped up in cities around the world. Last year, his painting depicting primates sitting in Britain’s Parliament sold for more than $12 million.
Banksy has highlighted the plight of refugees before. In 2018, he painted walls in Paris with murals on the theme of migration. In 2015, he sent fixtures from his “Dismaland” theme park in England to a migrant camp in Calais, France.
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