Gauntlet Gallery — Banksy Prints
NOLA (Pink To Yellow AP)
Work Summary & Collector Notes
NOLA depicts a young girl in a black dress and Mary Jane shoes sheltering beneath a large black umbrella, one hand outstretched palm-up to catch the weather, while colored "rain" drips down inside the umbrella rather than outside it. In this Artist Proof, the spray-applied drips run from hot pink at top to acid yellow below, against Banksy's signature grey ground. The composition is one of Banksy's most enduring print images and a direct response to Hurricane Katrina's flooding of New Orleans.
Collector notes: Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 76. Edition-specific signature, numbering, and stamp details were not stated in the saved release record. Verify signing and numbering against a documented example of this edition.
Why It Matters
NOLA turns one of Banksy's recurring tropes, a child confronting an inverted or absurd reality, into a pointed piece of disaster commentary: the umbrella, the universal symbol of protection, fails the girl entirely, the storm finding her even where she should be safe. Made after Banksy's 2008 visit to New Orleans, where he painted murals around the city on the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the print indicts the institutional abandonment and failed levees that turned a natural disaster into a man-made one. The color-rain device, hand-sprayed so that no two impressions are identical, makes each sheet a unique object within an edition and is a hallmark of why the NOLA series is so prized.
Collector Perspective
NOLA was issued by Pictures on Walls (POW) in several variants: a larger signed edition, a smaller unsigned edition, and color/AP variants such as this one. This is an Artist Proof in the Pink-to-Yellow colorway from an edition of 76, the AP designation and the hand-sprayed, non-repeating drips making each sheet effectively one-of-one within the run.
Historical Context
The title NOLA is shorthand for New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2008 Banksy traveled to the city for the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (2005), stenciling a series of murals on storm-damaged and abandoned buildings that referenced the flooding and the slow, inadequate official response. This 2009 POW screen print distilled that body of street work into an editioned image, the girl unable to escape rain that falls even under her umbrella standing as a metaphor for a catastrophe that authorities failed to keep out. It sits squarely in Banksy's Art-World Era, when his street interventions were increasingly translated into collectible prints.
Documented Release Details
- Object type
- Editioned screenprint
- Release date
- 2009
- Release-date note
- Catalog-listed release year from the saved secondary record; primary release-page confirmation remains pending.
- Medium and materials
- Screen Print.
- Edition details
- Edition; saved release record states an edition size of 76.
- Signature and marks
- Edition-specific signature, numbering, and stamp details were not stated in the saved release record. Verify signing and numbering against a documented example of this edition.
Documented History and Meaning
History note: This page treats Banksy's broader career as background context, not proof that this specific edition belongs to any single exhibition or event. Release-level facts here come from a saved secondary catalog record.
Meaning / interpretation: No per-work artist statement is recorded for this edition. Any thematic reading should be treated as interpretation of the imagery, not a documented statement of the artist's intent. This interpretive note follows the cited artist or publisher context.
Release context: The saved catalog lists 2009.
Authentication, Presentation and Provenance
- Original presentation
- Original packaging or presentation was not documented in the release sources reviewed.
- Authentication note
- Compare the support, dimensions, edition number, and signature against a documented example of this edition. Gauntlet Gallery does not authenticate works purchased from third parties.
- Provenance note
- Edition origin is attributed in the saved record to the release source named in the saved record. That does not establish the ownership history of an individual copy: retain the original invoice, reseller or gallery paperwork, labels, correspondence, and condition photographs.
Sources and Verification
Verification status: Secondary catalog snapshot; artist-level context added
- Banksy — Wikipedia · reference encyclopedia · Accessed 2026-07-13 · General artist-level biographical and career reference.
- Banksy (Q133600) — Wikidata · reference knowledge base · Accessed 2026-07-13 · Structured identifier used for the artist across catalog metadata.
FAQ
What does NOLA depict?
A young girl in a black dress holding a large black umbrella with one hand outstretched, while colored rain drips down inside the umbrella instead of outside it, here running from pink at the top to yellow below on a grey ground.
What does NOLA refer to?
NOLA is shorthand for New Orleans, Louisiana. The image responds to Hurricane Katrina and the failed response that flooded the city, following Banksy's 2008 mural project there.
What is the edition size of this print?
This Pink-to-Yellow Artist Proof comes from an edition of 76. As an AP with hand-sprayed, non-repeating drips, each sheet is effectively unique within the run.
Is this print signed?
This is an Artist Proof (AP) variant.
What medium is it and who is Banksy?
It is a screen print with hand-sprayed color elements, published in 2009 by Pictures on Walls. Banksy is the anonymous England-based street artist who emerged from Bristol in the early 1990s, known for fast stencil work, dark humour, and anti-establishment imagery.
