Summary
A grey-toned screenprint that reworks the classic "March of Progress" evolution-of-man image: instead of evolving upward, a line of casually dressed festival-goers (including a woman pushing a stroller and a child) queues at a merchandise stall on the right, where a vendor hawks a bright red t-shirt printed "DESTROY CAPITALISM" beneath a small yellow smiley sun. The visual punchline is that anti-capitalist rebellion has itself been packaged, branded, and sold back to the crowd as festival merch.
Why It Matters
The print captures one of Banksy's sharpest and most self-aware ideas: that dissent is easily commodified, and that even slogans of revolt become products the moment they are profitable. By staging it as a literal queue toward a merch table at a festival, Banksy implicates the very counterculture audience that buys his own work, a piece of pointed irony that gives the image lasting bite. It sits squarely within his Capitalism and Consumerism and Protest and Subversion concerns and previews the satirical logic he would later push to its extreme with stunts like Gross Domestic Product.
Collector Perspective
This is an Artist Proof from a small edition of 56, hand-signed, which places it among the scarcer and more desirable tiers of Banksy's printed output, well below the unsigned editions in supply. Signed examples and APs carry a premium over signed-numbered prints from the main run, and the modest edition size means few examples circulate at any given time. As an Art-World Era screenprint with a strong, instantly legible concept, it has solid demand among Banksy collectors, though as with all Banksy works, provenance, condition, and any certification (such as Pest Control authentication) are decisive to value and liquidity.
Historical Context
Produced in 2007, during the period when Banksy was transitioning from a street artist into a major art-market force, the print parodies Rudolph Zallinger's iconic 1965 "March of Progress" diagram of human evolution. The festival setting reflects the mid-2000s UK music-festival culture in which Banksy himself was active (he produced festival imagery and worked around events of that era), and the image's irony, selling "Destroy Capitalism" as a commodity, mirrors his own escalating commercial visibility at exactly the moment his prices were beginning to climb.
FAQ
What does this print depict?
It reworks the famous evolution-of-man 'March of Progress' image: a line of festival-goers, including a woman with a stroller and a child, queues toward a merchandise stall where a vendor sells a red 'DESTROY CAPITALISM' t-shirt, satirizing how rebellion gets sold as merch.
What is the edition size?
The edition is 56.
Is this print signed?
Yes. This is a hand-signed Artist Proof (AP), an out-of-series impression that is generally scarcer and more sought-after than the standard numbered prints.
What medium is it?
It is a screenprint, produced in 2007.
Who is Banksy?
Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist who emerged from Bristol in the early 1990s, known for fast stencil work, dark humour, and anti-capitalist and anti-establishment imagery, much of it published as limited-edition prints.
About the Artist
Banksy is an anonymous England-based street artist, political activist and film director whose identity remains officially unconfirmed. Emerging from the Bristol underground scene in the early 1990s, he developed a fast, stencil-based technique for working in public space, pairing dark humour with anti-war, anti-capitalist and anti-establishment messages. Recurring motifs include rats, monkeys, riot police, and children with balloons or weapons. Many of his prints were published through Pictures on Walls and rank among the most heavily traded in the secondary market, while stunts such as the self-shredding Girl with Balloon, the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem and the Gross Domestic Product homeware line have made him one of the most recognised artists in the world.
Collecting Banksy at Gauntlet Gallery
Where can I buy authentic Banksy prints?
Gauntlet Gallery offers an extensive, authenticated inventory of Banksy prints and contemporary editions, with new drops added regularly. Browse the current collection at gauntlet.gallery.
How does Gauntlet Gallery ensure authenticity?
Gauntlet Gallery is built on curation, authenticity and transparency — every work is vetted and its provenance, edition details and condition are disclosed up front.
Does Gauntlet Gallery add new Banksy prints?
Yes. New drops are released regularly across Banksy and other leading artists; see gauntlet.gallery for the latest inventory.