BANKSY // Love Is In The Air

Banksy, Love is in the Air, 2005.
Oil and spray paint on canvas, 90 × 90 cm.
© Banksy.

Love Is In The Air, also known as Flower Thrower or LIITA, is one of Banksy’s most recognisable works. The artwork depicts a masked protestor mid-throw, but instead of a weapon, he launches a bouquet. This striking contrast between aggression and peace reflects Banksy’s trademark blend of street art style and political activism. First created in the early 2000s, the most famous version appeared in 2003 as a mural in Jerusalem, painted shortly after the construction of the West Bank barrier. Today, Love Is In The Air is celebrated as a defining Banksy image, symbolising the absurdity of war, the power of peaceful protest and the enduring influence of his street art.

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ORIGINS OF THE MOTIF
"As soon as I cut my first stencil I could feel the power there. I also like the political edge. All graffiti is low‑level dissent, but stencils have an extra history. They’ve been used to start revolutions and to stop war"

- Banksy

Banksy’s Love Is In The Air motif, also known as Flower Thrower or LIITA, has roots in some of his earliest known work, including Flower Power from 1998. Developed in the early 2000s, it gained international prominence in 2003 with a large mural in Jerusalem, painted shortly after the construction of the West Bank barrier. The image of a masked protestor hurling a bouquet instead of a weapon transforms aggression into a message of peace. Over time, it has become one of Banksy’s most recognisable motifs, symbolising resistance, hope and the power of non-violent protest in contemporary street art.
- Flower Power, 1998
  © Banksy.
- Love Is In The Air, 2003
  © Banksy.
- Love Is In The Air, 2003
  © Banksy.
- Love Is In The Air, 2006
  © Banksy.
- Flower Thrower Triptych, 2017
  © Banksy.
POLITICAL COMMENTARY
Banksy, Stencil of Flower Thrower, Cut and Run Exhibition, 2023.
© Banksy. Photo © Alamy Stock Photo.

Growing up in Bristol during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Banksy would have been aware of the city’s turbulent history, including the 1980 St Pauls riot and later demonstrations that shaped its political climate. Images from such events, such as masked figures, tense standoffs and thrown projectiles, became staples of media coverage and a lasting part of Bristol’s cultural memory. In Love Is In The Air, Banksy takes this familiar posture of resistance and subverts it by replacing the weapon with a bouquet of flowers. The result is both a critique of violence and a call for non-violent protest. First painted in Jerusalem in 2003, the work embodies the political charge that runs through much of his art, confronting conflict, inequality and the ways power is both resisted and enforced.
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