The theme of immigration was everywhere on Glastonbury this year.
Banksy’s latest Glastonbury stunt – an inflatable dinghy with dummies representing child migrants at sea was carried across the crowd at the Glastonbury Festival 2024 during Idles’ headlining set, was revealed the next day to be a Banksy artwork.
The small craft embarked on its short voyage during a song by the band Idles. While front man Danny Nedelko opened with “My blood brother is an immigrant / a beautiful immigrant,” people even thought it was part of the show. Idles revealed the next day that the boat was an intervention by British street artist Banksy, and that it wasn’t in on the act. Banksy himself confirmed the piece in his typical fashion, posting a video to Instagram on Sunday.
It ensured the issue of immigration, that was a theme of this year’s festival, was beamed out live on the BBC.