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201212. Love is in the Air (Flower Thrower)
The Stencil: Flower Chucker by Banksy
This is probably the most well-known of Banksy’s stencils, and was created around 2003. It was spraypainted on a wall off Rivington Street in London, and was also made available for sale as a limited edition print that was screenprinted on paper. The stencil was reworked some years later and this was displayed in Andipa gallery in 2009. In addition to this, the image has also been reworked by Banksy into a more detailed painting, showing the full riot, not just the individual rioter. It also features on the front cover of Banksy’s book ‘Wall and Piece’.
Graffiti off Shoreditch Road in 2003 - (Image from: http://artofthestate.co.uk/Banksy/Banksy_rioter.htm)
Reworked version of the ‘Love is in the Air’ stencil on display at Andipa in April 2009 - (Image from: http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/banksy/banksy-love-is-in-the-air.htm)
Detailed painting of the full riot scene by Banksy - (Image from: http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/flowerchucker2.html)
The Location:
We shot this image one evening in the carpark of a big office building in the Hamilton CBD; it was just a few metres away from where we ended up having the exhibition. I chose this location because it’s a very quiet spot, so we could shoot without being disturbed, but also because I knew we would need quite a bit of space, so this was the perfect spot for us.
Wardrobe/Props:
Most of the wardrobe in this shot belonged to the model (who was one of my co-workers at the time), the only pieces I needed to buy were the cap, the bandana and the bouquet of flowers which I got from the supermarket earlier in the day. I had one of the florists make up a special bouquet to try and match the stencil as much as possible, obviously the flowers aren’t identical, but the important elements I needed to be correct are all there (the wrapping paper, the shape of the bouquet and the lilly shaped flowers).
The Shoot:
The most challenging part of this shoot was directing the model to achieve the right position. If you do a google search and find the ‘Halloween costume’ versions of this image, you can see that the natural reaction of a person being told to pretend they are going to throw something looks really fake and not at all like the stencil. I felt that the position of the model and the lighting were the two most important elements I needed to match as closely as possible to the stencil.
This was the only shoot of this project where I used a second light; it was a handheld Nikon flash which I got someone to hold for me while I was shooting. I used it to very slightly side light the unlit edge of the model. The main light was the b1600 fitted with the octabox (see Gear page for more info).