This piece is painted in oils and emulsion on canvas. It shows a hungry, emaciated African child sitting with an empty bowl in front of him. On his head sits the familiar cardboard crown that Burger King gives to children.

The whole power of the piece lies in this contrast. The free toy crown that Western fast food chains give out to make children feel like a king or a queen becomes, here, a symbol of the opposite reality: hunger and deprivation. With this single image Banksy sums up the moral gap between the abundance of consumer culture and the hunger that still continues across much of the world.

Banksy’s own comment on the piece supports this sharp criticism. He said: “Sometimes I feel so sick at the state of the world I can’t even finish my second apple pie.” With this almost absurd piece of self mockery, he exposes the indifference of Western consumers towards global inequality.

There is no clear, confirmed information about exactly when or where the piece was exhibited, which collection it belongs to, or where it is located today. For that reason it is more accurate here to focus on the content and the message of the piece rather than offer a definite history.

Burger King Kid is regarded as one of Banksy’s most political and most directly confrontational works. There is no humour here either. Just a direct, uncomfortable mirror.