Rare Photograph of Banksy at Work Unveiled at YES 2026 in Kyiv
A rare photograph showing Banksy at work in Borodyanka took centre stage at the Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting in Kyiv, as PinchukArtCentre presented works by Banksy, john gerrard, Yurii Gruzinov and Oleksiy Sai.
The 22nd YES Annual Meeting, titled Peace Through Strength NOW!, was held in Kyiv on 11–12 September 2026, bringing together around 700 politicians, diplomats, business figures, Ukrainian servicemen, veterans, civil activists and experts from 28 countries. Discussions included the war, international support for Ukraine, security guarantees, defence technology and what Ukraine and its partners could do to make meaningful progress towards ending the conflict.
Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation ©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
Banksy Revealed on the YES Stage
The Banksy presentation was given a deliberate unveiling. Photographs from the conference show a floor-to-ceiling grey curtain concealing a large image on the main discussion stage. As the curtain dropped, it revealed Ember’s photograph of Banksy working on Judo in Borodyanka in 2022, beneath the conference message Peace Through Strength NOW!
The main discussion stage moments before the Banksy photograph was unveiled at the 22nd YES Annual Meeting in Kyiv.
Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
The Banksy photograph is unveiled on the main stage at the 22nd YES Annual Meeting in Kyiv.
Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
Ember’s photograph of Banksy at work on Judo in Borodyanka is revealed on the main stage at the 22nd YES Annual Meeting in Kyiv.
Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation ©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
The image was loaned by Pest Control Office, Banksy’s official authentication body, offering a rare view of an artist whose anonymity remains fundamental to his public identity. GraffitiStreet explores Pest Control and its role in authenticating Banksy artworks in our Banksy authentication and provenance guide.
Banksy’s Judo in Borodyanka
The photograph takes us back to one of the most recognisable works from Banksy’s 2022 intervention in Ukraine. Painted on a building damaged during Russia’s invasion, Judo depicts a small child throwing a considerably larger adult opponent to the ground. PinchukArtCentre describes the mural as having become an iconic symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
Banksy, Judo, Borodyanka, Ukraine, 2022. Photo © Banksy.
The larger judoka has been widely interpreted as a reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose association with judo is well documented. But the force of the image lies in the reversal itself: the apparently weaker figure defeats the stronger one through skill rather than size.
Banksy created seven works across Kyiv, Borodyanka, Irpin and other communities around the capital during his 2022 visit. GraffitiStreet documented the complete intervention at the time in Banksy Reveals Seven New Artworks in War-Torn Ukraine.
On 24 February 2023, the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Ukrposhta placed Judo on its FCK PTN! postage stamp. The postal service described 2022 for Ukraine as a battle between David and Goliath, “the year of resistance”, and specifically pointed to the small boy defeating the judoka with a skilful throw.
Banksy’s Judo mural reproduced on Ukraine’s FCK PTN! postage stamp, issued by Ukrposhta on 24 February 2023. Photo © GraffitiStreet.
Banksy – FCK PTN! Stamp Postcard Boxset
By the time the image arrived on the YES stage four years later, it carried a history extending far beyond the original wall: from Borodyanka, to a national postage stamp, to an international meeting in Kyiv explicitly discussing how the war might end and what lasting peace could require.
From Resistance to Peace Through Strength
Victor Pinchuk connected Judo with the central idea behind YES 2026. Opening the conference, he argued that Ukrainian military capability, innovation and international support could create the conditions for negotiations to end the war. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy likewise spoke about security guarantees in relation to future peace. These were positions expressed by the speakers at YES rather than meanings assigned to Banksy’s work itself.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 in Kyiv, with Ember’s photograph of Banksy at work in Borodyanka displayed on the main stage. Photo: Victor Pinchuk Foundation © 2026. Photographers: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM Photography) and Oleksandr Piliugin. Photograph displayed: Ember. Image on loan from Pest Control Office.
Banksy created Judo amid the destruction of Borodyanka in 2022. Ukraine subsequently embraced the image as one of resistance: a smaller figure confronting a much larger opponent and refusing to be overpowered. At YES 2026, the same image appeared beneath a different proposition: Peace Through Strength NOW!
Art Inside YES 2026
Banksy was one part of a three-work presentation by PinchukArtCentre examining different realities surrounding the war in Ukraine.
Irish artist john gerrard presented Flare (Oceania) (2022), a real-time digital simulation contextualised by PinchukArtCentre around energy, economic infrastructure and the systems helping sustain Russia’s war economy. Ukrainian artists Yurii Gruzinov and Oleksiy Sai presented Land (2026), a 19-minute video created from body-camera footage recorded by reconnaissance personnel from Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence operating in enemy-controlled territory.
Rather than conventional battlefield imagery, Land follows terrain, movement, breathing and the vulnerability of the person carrying the camera, bringing the physical experience of the front line directly into the work.
Together, the works addressed the reality of Russia’s war against Ukraine from different positions: resistance, the economics of war and the lived experience of those fighting it.
Banksy’s Judo photograph displayed on the main stage during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 in Kyiv, held under the theme Peace Through Strength NOW! Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
Ember’s photograph of Banksy at work on Judo in Borodyanka, Ukraine, 2022, displayed during the YES Annual Meeting 2026 in Kyiv.
Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
Four years later, seeing Banksy himself in Ember’s photograph is undoubtedly unusual. But the greater significance lies in why this particular image was brought back into view. What began on a damaged building in Borodyanka became, for many Ukrainians, an image of resistance. At YES 2026 it was placed inside another conversation, about strength, security, and ultimately how peace might be reached.
Sources
PinchukArtCentre — YES 2026 presentation,
Yalta European Strategy — Peace Through Strength NOW!,
YES Annual Meeting 2026
Ukrposhta — Wartime Postage Stamps
Photo credits
YES 2026 event photographs: Photos are provided by the VictorPinchukFoundation©2026. Photographer: Valentyna Rostovikova, Nicolas Lobet, Frederic Garrido-Ramirez (PRYZM photography), and Oleksandr Piliugin.
Banksy photograph displayed at YES: Banksy at work on Judo, Borodyanka, Ukraine, 2022. Photographer: Ember. Image on loan from Pest Control Office.