A Banksy mural removed from the façade of a 17th-century palazzo in Venice last year will tour the canals of the lagoon city this weekend after having been restored. According to Venezia Today, the revitalised work known as Migrant Child, was unveiled yesterday near the Arsenale, a Biennale site, following extensive conservation funded by the banking group Banca Ifis.
Migrant Child, which shows a child holding a flare in her hand and wearing a life vest, was sprayed onto a wall of the Palazzo San Pantalon, a lavish three-story residence on a canal in Venice’s Santa Croce district, in 2019. Positioned just above the canal’s waterline, it is one of only two works of art in Italy officially attributed to Banksy.
Italy’s ministry of culture announced in 2023 that the piece would be restored by Banca Ifis, sparking debate over whether the piece should be preserved or allowed to decay in situ. The bank purchased Palazzo San Pantalon the following year and commissioned Zaha Hadid Architects to work on the building's restoration.
The mural—seen as a reference to the global refugee crisis—became a popular tourist attraction but six years of neglect and exposure to the elements caused it to fade, with about a third of the work having deteriorated. It underwent analysis and restoration under the supervision of Federico Borgogni, who also oversaw the 2021 removal of Banksy’s Aachoo! from a Bristol house.
In an online statement, the bank says that “Banksy's work will once again be made accessible to the public as part of [some] free projects organised by Ifis art [the bank’s cultural arm] in agreement with the authorities responsible for the protection of Venice's artistic heritage.” Banca Ifis was contacted regarding whether the mural would be returned to Palazzo San Pantalon.