ABC: Berkshire: Literary: Create Escape by Banksy

Slightly obtuse literary reference, but it's cool so there !

One night, Banksy did a mural of Oscar Wilde effectively climbing over the walls of Reading Jail. He's basically shimmying down a rope and he's got a typewriter attached to himself.  

I must admit, I heard that it happened and I did visit about four or five years ago when it first turned up. In classic Banksy style, there was a massive scrum of people and huge chaos on the road in terms of cars and people trying to pull over and what have you. I did stop myself and take a photo—I did park up nicely though. Unfortunately now, as with a lot of Banksys, they've had to cover it up with perspex. So it doesn't quite have the same visual impact, but it still looks pretty good.

It turns out Banksy actually confirmed it was his on his Instagram, and he even released a video of him painting it. He used a voiceover from Bob Ross—the "Joy of Painting" guy—which is a classic touch, matching his brushstrokes to Bob’s calm instructions while he's spray-painting the wall.

The typewriter is a nod to Wilde, who was in there for two years doing forced labour after a "gross indecency" conviction. He actually wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol about his time inside. The prison itself has been closed since 2013 and it's been used for a few film sets and art shows since then, but now it’s owned by the Ministry of Justice and they were looking to sell it off to developers.

By calling the piece "Create Escape," apparently Banksy is getting behind the local campaign to save the building. The council is really keen to turn the whole jail into a proper arts and culture hub rather than just seeing it turned into flats.

Obviously, you know, times have changed and that sort of thing would most definitely not happen anymore. But there he was; poor old Oscar Wilde had to live with it at the time

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