The British famed graffiti artist has funded a refugee rescue boat crewed by activists with experience in search and rescue to save refugees from the Mediterranean Sea.
- August 29, 2020
AceShowbiz - British graffiti artist Banksy has funded a bright pink ship that has been rescuing refugees from the Mediterranean Sea.
The boat, named the Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, was launched secretly on 18 August (20) from Burriana, a port near Valencia, Spain, and rescued 89 people on Thursday (27Aug20), including 14 women and four children, according to a post from its official Twitter account.
The vessel is decorated with Banksy's art, with a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy painted on its bridge.
Its captain, Pia Klemp, tells The Guardian that the mysterious street art legend sent her an email after reading about her past rescue missions.
"Hello Pia, I've read about your story in the papers," he reportedly wrote. "You sound like a bada*s. I am an artist from the UK and I've made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously I can't keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy."
Klemp initially believed the approach was a joke, but received the funds with no strings attached.
"Banksy won't pretend that he knows better than us how to run a ship, and we won't pretend to be artists," she says.
The boat is crewed by European activists with experience in search and rescue. They are now looking for a port or European coastguard vessel to transfer the 89 people they rescued.
