During his visit to the Gaza Strip in the wake of recent Israeli air strikes, anonymous graffiti artist Banksy painted an image of Greek goddess Niobe weeping on the still-standing metal doorway of a demolished home. Banksy’s murals have been chiseled out of walls and sold for over $1 million in art auctions, but the home’s owners, the Hamduna family, were reportedly tricked into selling the artist’s stunning work for approximately $180.
In a video entitled “Make this the year YOU discover a new destination” which Banksy released online in February, the artist provided viewers with a critique of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which damaged more than 100,000 homes and killing nearly 2,200 Palestinians. He painted a number of murals on the walls of destroyed and abandoned homes on the Gaza Strip, among them was the Niobe mural he painted on the doorway of the now-homeless Hamduna family’s former residence.
Less than a month later, a man who gave his name as “Bilal Khaled,” who claimed to be a news agency photographer and journalist, approached Rabieh Hamduna and offered a small amount of money for the doorway.
“He said it was his agency that had painted the graffiti on the door and other doors, and that they now wanted to recover them,” Hamduna told AFP. “He gave me 700 shekels and went off with the door.”
Since 700 shekels equates to $180, and Banksy’s works typically sell for hundreds of thousands in art auctions, Hamduna soon realized that he was tricked.
“I didn’t know the graffiti was valuable. My house was destroyed and now I have to pay rent. I need the money and so I agreed to sell the door,” said Hamduna, who hopes to get the piece back so he can put it on display. “I want to exhibit it so that the whole world sees our suffering, like the artist wanted when he painted it.”
A social media campaign against Bilal Khaled was recently launched by Palestinian activists, causing Khaled to respond on his Facebook page that the Hamduna family helped him dislodge and carry away the door. He claims that he wants to save the door and exhibit it at international events to raise awareness of the plight of Gaza.
