Banksy | Grannies (2006) | Unsigned Limited Edition with Pest Control COA

Banksy (b. c.1974)
Grannies, 2006
Two-colour screenprint on Arches 88 wove paper | Unsigned edition of 500

Grannies was produced for Banksy's 2006 Barely Legal exhibition in Los Angeles — the show that moved him from street phenomenon to blue-chip market proposition in the space of a single weekend. The image — two elderly women, seated and knitting, wearing jumpers emblazoned with the slogans Thug For Life and Punks Not Dead — is quintessential Banksy: a juxtaposition so clean and so funny that its critical dimension arrives a beat later, once you have already laughed.

The joke is layered. The grandmothers are not subversive figures — they are the opposite of subversive, the embodiment of domestic comfort and social compliance — and yet they are wearing the language of rebellion as casually as cardigans. Banksy is not mocking punk or hip-hop. He is asking what happens when a culture's most transgressive slogans become just slogans, worn by people who would never intend transgression. The answer, in this image, is: something rather moving.

This is an unsigned impression from the edition of 500, accompanied by a Pest Control Certificate of Authenticity — the only authentication body recognised by the artist. Pest Control COA is the gold standard of Banksy provenance, and no Banksy work should be acquired without one.

Available through Creed Gallery, Ascot. Private viewings by appointment for collectors across Berkshire, Surrey, and London.

Two-colour screenprint on Arches 88 wove paper
575 × 767 mm sheet
Unsigned edition of 500
Published by Pictures on Walls, London, 2006
Pest Control Certificate of Authenticity
Creed Gallery Certificate of Authenticity