Italian artists oppose plan to save Venice’s Banksy mural

A Banksy mural in Venice which is disappearing due to salt-water erosion has sparked a row between an Italian minister seeking to save it and graffiti artists who claim it should be allowed to fade.

The Bristol artist painted a migrant in a life jacket with a flare in her hand in 2019 at the water line of a palazzo in Venice’s Dorsoduro district.

The mural, intended to highlight the fate of refugees, has become a tourist attraction but after years of being buffeted by the wake of passing motorboats its colours are fading.

Pledging to save it, Italy’s junior arts minister said he had recruited a bank to fund the restoration and protection of the work.

“I am not interested in whether the artist

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