One Nation Under CCTV Banksy: What It Showed, Where and What Happened

One Nation Under CCTV is a Banksy stencil on a Royal Mail building on Newman Street, London W1, dated 2007 or 2008 depending on the source. It showed a child in a red hooded top painting the slogan beside a police officer and a dog, next to a CCTV camera. Westminster City Council ordered its removal in 2008.

What does One Nation Under CCTV show?

The work combined a painted scene with a CCTV camera. Wikipedia’s entry describes a child in a red hooded top painting the slogan beside a police officer and a dog, with the work situated next to a CCTV camera. The painted figures and the slogan turned the wall into an improvised street composition, with the camera beside them as a silent viewer. Stencilling itself belongs to a longer history in street art, and Banksy’s unsigned public work fits the path from anonymity to recognition common in urban art.

When and where was it made?

The two dates both come from the same Wikipedia page: the introduction says 2007, while a category places the piece among 2008 paintings. Press reports from late 2008 treat the work as already in place, but do not date its creation. The location is not disputed: Newman Street, London W1, on a Royal Mail building, at approximately 51°31′02″N 0°08′07″W. Newman Street sits in central London, outside the better-known London street art scene of Shoreditch.

Why did Westminster Council want it removed?

Westminster City Council treated the piece as an unauthorized advertisement rather than as art, and the dispute played out in the press.

• October 24, 2008: BBC News reported “Council orders Banksy art removal,” with Westminster City Council ordering the work removed.
• October 29, 2008: Time published a statement from Banksy’s spokesperson, Jo Brooks. The statement rejected the label “an advertisement,” said the building owner reportedly wanted to keep the piece, and noted that the council consulted neighbors.
• March 6, 2009: BBC News reported “Banksy mural deemed ‘graffiti’” after the council’s decision.

What does the mural say about surveillance?

The slogan is read as a play on “One Nation Under God” applied to the United Kingdom as a country dense with surveillance cameras. One reading is that Banksy’s child is caught in the act of painting a protest while the CCTV camera beside it records everything, making the observer part of the same watched street. The October 2008 removal fight turned the image into a public dispute about who controls walls, not only a painted scene. The work can be read as a visual argument about control and public space, a theme that connects to street art as protest and art as social commentary.

Is the mural still there?

Wikipedia lists April 2009 as the date it was painted over, but the entry provides no contemporary press article for that date. No source confirms that the work survives today.

FAQ

Where was One Nation Under CCTV painted?

On Newman Street, central London W1, on a Royal Mail building, next to a CCTV camera.

When did Banksy make it, 2007 or 2008?

Sources differ. The same Wikipedia page gives 2007 in its introduction and 2008 in a category; no precise creation date is documented.

Was One Nation Under CCTV removed?

Westminster City Council ordered its removal in 2008; Wikipedia lists April 2009 as the date it was painted over.

What does the slogan refer to?

A play on “One Nation Under God,” applied to surveillance to present the UK as a watched nation.

Sources

• Wikipedia, “One Nation Under CCTV” entry.
• BBC News, “Council orders Banksy art removal,” October 24, 2008.
• Time, “Statement issued from Banksy’s spokesperson Jo Brooks,” October 29, 2008.
• BBC News, “Banksy mural deemed ‘graffiti’,” March 6, 2009.