Draw The Raised Bridge appeared on 26 January 2018 on Scott Street Bridge in Hull, England.

The work references Hull’s historical resistance during the 1642 Siege, symbolising peaceful protest and post-Brexit isolation.

A boy, wearing a colander helmet, cape and shield-like armour, shouts ‘DRAW THE RAISED BRIDGE!’ while holding a sword with a pencil attached to its tip.

The child stands heroically on the abandoned raised bridge; grey tones create a bleak atmosphere, the only colour accent is the tip of the pencil.

Banksy also references the 1642 incident when Sir John Hotham and Parliament prevented King Charles I from entering Hull.

By showing the child in battle pose yet replacing the weapon with a pencil, he turns him into a peace activist, a recurring motif in Banksy’s use of child figures.

He questions the absurdity of war and isolation; while the child “draws” the bridge upward, he mocks the power of non-violent resistance. The pencil symbolises drawing as an act of peace. The work critiques Britain’s post-Brexit ‘close the gates’ policy and borders like the West Bank Wall. By linking it to Hull’s 67.6 % Brexit yes vote, he satirises the raising of walls and isolation.

Banksy implies that creativity can defeat destruction by ‘revolution through drawing’.

Critics describe the work as ‘an iconic symbol of peaceful protest’.