We are in 1997, on the outside wall of a former massage parlour in the Stokes Croft area of Bristol. Banksy was still right at the start of his career when he left one of his most loved images here. A large, cuddly teddy bear is holding a lit Molotov cocktail. It is about to throw the bottle at three police officers lined up in front of it.

The context behind this image is very clear. In 1990s Bristol, and especially in Stokes Croft, heavy police raids on rave parties and underground nightclubs had created serious tension. With this piece, Banksy makes a direct reference to the youth culture of his own city and to its resistance against authority.

Is the piece still there? Yes, and that makes it an exception among Banksy’s early street pieces. Over the years, Mild Mild West became part of the identity of Stokes Croft and of Bristol as a whole. It has been protected by local people and businesses, restored several times, and it still stands today in its original spot, visible to visitors.

The title itself carries a play on words. Instead of Wild West, we get Mild Mild West, a piece of very British, self deprecating humour.

Mild Mild West carries the first seeds of many techniques Banksy would later master: sharp social observation, an unexpected substitution of figures, and a visual language that mocks authority without glorifying violence.