‘Little Mali Girl’ (Timbuktu, 2009) Stencil, freehand, spraypaint and acrylic on dried mud. DESCRIPTION - The artwork on this wall piece depicts a little girl in a long checkered dress, with one hand on her lap, the other one outstretched towards a little yellow bird. It is consequently an extraordinarily important work and is the only surviving witness to Banksy’s residency in Africa. Dimensions Size: 117 x 123 cm (unframed)(46 x 48.43 in)Size: 133 x 139 cm (framed)(52.36 x 54.7 in) Artist or Maker BANKSY Condition Report CONDITION Excellent and Authentic (Please refer to department for Condition report) Provenance PROVENANCE - In January 2009, Banksy visited Africa. During a short stint in the city of Timbuktu, a regional capital in the center of Mali, just on the border of the Sahara he created six artworks. Brilliant murals, all made with keen observation and a good eye for humor. The pieces were quintessential Banksy and were confirmed as being by him at his 2009 summer exhibition in Bristol, called ‘Banksy versus Bristol Museum’, which featured studies and sketches of the Mali project, alongside a vast portfolio of stencils, sculptures, paintings, mixed media works and photographs. Notes NOTE - The most well-known of the six murals Banksy created in the city of Timbuktu were ‘Washing Zebra Stripes’, ‘Mali Girl and ‘Buffalo Hunt’ and the lesser known, ‘No Clean Water left (x2) and ‘Peaches Geldof Please Give Generously’. Of all the Timbuktu works, only ‘Mali Girl’ survived, the rest falling foul to vandalism and the Civil War between the Islamic Tuareg rebels of the MNLA and Ansar Dine. (See Hessink’s Catalogue Raisonné of Banksy’s Street Art Work)