This screenprint was produced in London by Pictures on Walls in 2003, printed in black ink at 35 by 50 centimetres. Of the 750 prints, 150 were signed by the artist.

The composition refers directly to one of the most iconic photographs of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Jeff Widener’s famous “Tank Man” image, in which a single figure stands in the middle of the road facing down advancing tanks. Banksy’s touch is this: he places a sign reading “GOLF SALE” into the hands of the protester, who is empty handed in the original photograph.

This single change of a few words reverses the whole weight of the image. One of the most recognisable symbols of resistance and sacrifice suddenly turns into something commercially trivial, a sale announcement. Banksy offers a harsh comment here on how even the strongest symbols of resistance can eventually be swallowed and trivialised by consumer culture.

Golf Sale is one of the sharpest examples of a strategy Banksy loves, taking a familiar and powerful historical image and reversing its meaning with an unexpected, banal intervention.