Banksy has confirmed he is behind an artwork showing an older woman sneezing out her false teeth which has appeared on a house in Bristol.
The stencil mural entitled “Aachoo!!”, on the side of a semidetached house in Totterdown, had been covered up before its unveiling on Thursday morning.
It shows a woman in a headscarf holding a handkerchief but dropping her walking stick and handbag as she loses her dentures while sneezing.
The anonymous street artist Banksy confirmed on his website and Instagram account on Thursday afternoon that the work was his.
In a photograph posted by him, the woman appears to be blowing over a wheelie bin and a man’s umbrella with her sneezing.
Vale Street, the location of the painting, is England’s steepest residential street – with its 22-degree slope used during annual Easter Sunday egg-rolling competitions.
Fred Loosmore, 28, a furniture maker who until recently rented a room in the house that hosts the artwork, told the PA Media news agency he had put a clear covering over it for protection.
“We wanted to come up because people will deface it, and luckily we’ve got a workshop and a massive piece of acrylic we’ve got left over,” he said.
“When we lived here so many people would come, especially on bikes and stuff because they were trying to do the challenge up the hills. It’s a great spot.
“The artwork is so nice. It’s so relevant, isn’t it?”
On Thursday, people came to see and photograph the artwork. Jason Bartlett, 47, who grew up nearby, told the BBC: “I heard it on the news and I thought I’ve got to go and take a look.
“It’s going to get interesting for whoever owns the house I suppose.”
It’s not the first Banksy to spring up during the pandemic. In October, the artist confirmed he was behind a mural depicting a girl hula hooping with a tyre which appeared in Lenton, Nottingham.
In July, he also claimed responsibility for graffiti entitled If You Don’t Mask, You Don’t Get on a London Underground carriage depicting rats sneezing and others in face masks. It was later removed by Transport for London under its anti-graffiti policy.
