Banksy’s Wrong War Placard Series (2003)

Bomb Hugger

Happy Choppers

The Grim Reaper

Description:

This rare series of cardboard placards—Bomb Hugger, Grim Reaper, and Happy Choppers—originates from one of Banksy's most politically charged moments: the 2003 anti-Iraq War protest in London. Created as part of his Wrong War series, these spray-painted works were not crafted for gallery walls, but for the hands of demonstrators marching against war.

Each piece embodies Banksy’s hallmark fusion of irony, urgency, and accessible iconography. Bomb Hugger juxtaposes innocence and violence with a young girl embracing a bomb; Grim Reaper delivers a stark, skeletal commentary on death's role in warfare; and Happy Choppers presents weaponized helicopters adorned with cheerful motifs, highlighting the dark absurdity of military propaganda.

Spray-painted directly onto salvaged cardboard, the raw and ephemeral nature of these placards underscores their function as tools of protest rather than objects of art commerce. Most placards from the event were lost, discarded, or seized, making these surviving pieces a poignant testament to a moment of mass dissent and to Banksy's early interventions in public political discourse.