I just learned this morning that the late Ryan Evans was credited with additional reporting for this story.
Ryan was a security adviser to Reuters journos (including me) & was killed in a Russian missile attack.
He was part of the team that found the Banksy work near Bucha.
May he rest in peace.
Inside the Arrest That Led to Banksy’s Possible Unmasking Decades Later www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/n...
Banksy has been unmasked (again). But does this major Reuters investigation actually tell us something new?
“Reuters says that ecosystem includes a network of companies and secretive sales practices that helped protect both the artist and the business built around the myth.
Which is another way of saying: Banksy did not merely critique the system. Banksy became one of its most brilliant operators.”
“That is what makes this story so delicious for the broader art world. Banksy spent decades embodying anti-establishment energy, yet the name now sits inside a highly organized commercial ecosystem of authentication, resale value, corporate structures, and elite demand.”
The girls' school likely destroyed by an American missile had colorful murals *visible from space* as far back as 2018.
By @pearswick.press & Ryan McNeil:
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Trump repeatedly called journalists “the enemy of the people,” “human scum,” “very dangerous and sick.”
Here is the painstaking work of a couple of #journalists doing the job of presenting facts, pursuing the truth for America & the world. So many journalists doing incredible work right now.
I'd normally be annoyed at Reuters for doing a fake out where they focus on Rob from Massive Attack, before explaining that Banksy is actually the guy the Daily Mail named years ago, but it's so well written and richly reported I didn't care www.reuters.com/investigates...
That is very true. Del Naja was more directly influenced in his early work by hip hop and ‘wildstyle’ graffiti from the U.S. (as was Banksy in his early years), whereas what Banksy is best known for is more in the spirit of this tradition: www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
A terrific, well written exploration of Banksy. Tells a great story. Probably the best long form journalism I’ve read this year.
Banksy is one of the world's most popular, profitable and enigmatic artists. His identity has been debated — and closely guarded — for decades. Until now reut.rs/4cGMYnb
His early stencil work is actually very much the same style:
Banksy is one of the world's most popular, profitable and enigmatic artists.
His identity has been debated, and closely guarded, for decades.
Until now: www.reuters.com/investigates...
7/7
Among the many things we found: In September 2000, New York police nabbed Banksy for defacing a billboard in Manhattan.
We located and dated that billboard.
We also unearthed the artist's handwritten—and signed—confession, published here for the first time. 6/7
We consulted Banksy experts, art dealers, and buyers.
We pored over scores of photos and reviewed never-before-published court and police records.
We even went to a Massive Attack concert. 5/7
Best known for simple yet sophisticated work infused with searing social commentary, Banksy has produced art that's generated tens of millions of dollars in sales.
Despite his fame, few know with certainty his real name. 4/7
When I got wind of this, it made me wonder if modern open source intelligence (OSINT) techniques could be applied to one of the art world’s biggest mysteries:
Just who, exactly, is Banksy? 3/7
He had assembled a photo lineup of possible Banksys to show Ukrainian residents who saw the artist paint a mural there.
The candidates included a man previously identified by British tabloids as Banksy.
But that wasn't the man who one local seemed to recognise. 2/7
In 2022, my colleague was on assignment in Ukraine for @reuters.com when he unearthed a tantalising clue which pointed to the identity of world famous street artist Banksy. 1/7 🧵
There, on March 2, the dead children were buried, creating row after row of 20 tidy rectangular holes in the earth. The strike killed 150 children, according to Iran's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva (Reuters has not independently confirmed the death toll).
Our analysis intended to detect areas of potential strikes, using sat data from visible & invisible light spectrum, highlighted another area of ground upheaval: the town cemetery.
A Reuters analysis of multispectral satellite imagery also found no indications of other strikes within 5 km, suggesting the buildings were specifically targeted, rather than struck as part of a broad bombing campaign on the southern city.
🚨Reuters investigation by @pearswick.press & me: Iran school struck on 1st day of war had yearlong online presence, including many photos of children & their activities, before it was bombed with at least 6 other buildings along 325m axis. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
The school's vivid online presence raises serious questions about how the U.S. military reviews strike locations in the war. New evidence suggests American forces may have relied on outdated targeting data.
NEW: An Iranian girls school that took a direct hit on the first day of the war had a yearslong online presence, including dozens of photos of the children and their activities, before it was bombed along with at least six other buildings in an adjacent military compound.
