Bansky Teaches Us To Lead with Love

{By: Lauren Trunfio} Flowers and art go hand-in-hand. If you’ve ever visited an art gallery before, chances are you’ve seen an abundance of florals incorporated in famous works of art, either as the focal point of the piece, or as a backdrop. Florals themselves are a muse for artists primarily because they can be used to symbolize and convey a variety of feelings and emotions. Love, loss, grief, hope… the list goes on. 

Banksy’s Rage, The Flower Thrower is one of the most iconic stencils ever created by artist Banksy which shows a masked Palestinian throwing a bouquet of flowers. Originally, this stencil first appeared on the side of a garage in Bethlehem, Jerusalem after the construction of the West Bank Wall, which is the wall that separates Palestine from Israel. Without going into significant detail about the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, Banky’s work, with the significant incorporation of florals, represents the notion of leading with love instead of hate as the message is to “make peace, not war” 

Although The Flower Thrower is meant to symbolize peace in times of war, we can also interpret this with meaning to our everyday lives. Flowers in this particular piece symbolize the power of fighting with peace instead of hate, which is a powerful sentiment to live by. Everyday, we experience hardships, and it can be tempting to use hateful words when fighting fire with fire. But in the end, this always does more harm than good. Life throws everyone impossible challenges, and while it’s easy to bask in defeat, leading with peace and love is the most efficient way to go about each day in order to keep your mental health and wellbeing in check. 

This post is Sponsored by Postal Petals. Postal Petals provides direct access to farm fresh, high-quality flowers to those who enjoy the mood-enhancing beauty of bold blooms, and appreciate the mind-calming experience of arranging them.