Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel Collectables: Sculptures, Art and the Politics of the Souvenir
Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel collectables emerged from one of the most politically charged environments in his practice. Produced in Bethlehem from 2017 in the hotels gift shop, the Box Set and miniature wall sculptures translate the visual language of the West Bank barrier into objects shaped by concrete, paint, printed imagery and hand-finished detail, drawing together motifs of childhood, protest, love and confinement that had already appeared across his work in the region.
The Walled Off Hotel sits within Banksy’s much wider relationship with Palestine, spanning his street works around the West Bank barrier, Bethlehem and Gaza, as well as the projects and artworks that developed through the hotel. Explore the complete guide to Banksy’s art in Palestine.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Stop And Search Wall Section Sculpture (2019-2020). Available via GraffitiStreet.
The Stop & Search wall section revisits Banksy’s 2007 Bethlehem mural in which a young girl searches an armed soldier, reversing the familiar balance of authority associated with military checkpoints and surveillance. Explore Banksy’s murals in Palestine.
The Walled Off Hotel
Located just a few feet away from the Israeli West Bank barrier, the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem is an exceptional space that offers visitors an immersive experience that goes beyond just accommodation. The hotel is adorned with Banksy’s striking artworks, providing a powerful and poignant political and social commentary on the region.
The hotel offers a one-of-a-kind experience, with ten guest rooms uniquely designed by invited artists and a presidential suite that bears Banksy’s signature style. Apart from the guest rooms, the hotel has a museum exhibit that showcases the area’s history, providing an educational and informative experience. The hotel’s art gallery also stands out, displaying a brilliant collection of artworks by local artists. Moreover, the piano bar is another unique feature that sets this hotel apart, where visitors can listen to famous artists from all over the world play the piano remotely, while local musicians play regularly, creating a soothing atmosphere for guests to relax and unwind.
The hotel has an extensive selection of collectables that go beyond mere keepsakes. These collectables are a symbol of the community’s strength and a means of supporting the hotel. The initial collectable was the Walled Off Hotel Boxset which featured a digital print of one of Banksy’s murals from Gaza. Subsequently, Banksy created a set of miniature sculptures depicting the wall, complete with graffiti, which local artists painted to resemble the West Bank barrier.
Banksy Walled off Hotel entrance, Bethlehem 2017. Image copyright GraffitiStreet
In our editorial, we take a closer look at the artwork collectables, highlighting their significance and the messages they convey.
The Walled Off Hotel Boxset
The Walled Off Hotel Boxset is a poignant piece of art exclusively available for in-person purchase at Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel in Palestine, Bethlehem. It features a high-quality digital print based on the original mural created by Banksy on the main road in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, in his visit in February 2015. Read more about Banksy’s 2015 Gaza intervention.
The mural conveys a poignant message about the resilience and innocence of children caught in the crossfire of war and conflict. It reminds us of the universal desire of children to play and have fun, regardless of their circumstances. It is a remarkable piece of art highlighting the need for peace and compassion in the world, especially for those who are most vulnerable.
What sets this artwork apart is that Banksy has captured the essence of childhood joy and carefree playfulness while conveying the deeper themes of freedom and escapism.
Banksy in Gaza. Image copyright Banksy
The image for the Walled Off Hotel Boxset is a monochrome representation of the artwork on view at the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem. This artwork beautifully captures the joyous moments of children swinging on a ride they have improvised on an Israeli army watchtower. The intricate detailing of the artwork showcases the children’s exhilarating experience with great precision. The watchtower’s door appears broken, and graffiti covers the base, hinting at its abandoned state. Despite playing on a symbol of oppression, Banksy emphasises the human spirit’s resilience and strength, showcasing the need for joy, peace, and a glimpse of hope.
Banksy Walled off Hotel, Bethlehem 2017. Image copyright GraffitiStreet.
The Walled Off Hotel Boxset also includes a unique piece of concrete hand-sprayed in either red, green, or both colours, referencing the Palestinian flag. The concrete adds an additional layer of authenticity and texture to the artwork. The boxset comes in a subtle white box frame that enhances the artwork and comes with a purchase receipt from The Walled Off Hotel.
Banksy, The Walled Off Hotel, Boxset. Available via GraffitiStreet.
The Walled Off Hotel Sculptures
A collection of miniature wall sculptures was released through Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel, with local artists involved in their hand-painted production. These sculptures were crafted to resemble the wall, adorned with graffiti, and some even featured a Banksy figure in the midst of spray painting. The result was a unique set of souvenirs that captured the essence of the West Bank barrier.
When they were first introduced in 2017, the sculptures depicted the barrier wall with graffiti on individual sections. The graffiti included messages of “Love” and “Hope” as well as a tribute to peace advocate “Brian“, which was painted by local artists based on Banksy’s original designs. These sections were sold separately or taped together to represent a wider view of the wall. Over time, as the sculptures evolved, the sculptures underwent certain changes in their structure and designs. For instance, an Israeli watchtower was added, and the wall was depicted as being defeated.
Banksy – Walled Off Hotel “Girl With Balloon” Separation Wall Sculpture. Available via GraffitiStreet.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Wall Section Love (2017)
Among the earliest Walled Off Hotel sculptures, Love presents a hooded figure painting the word across the face of the barrier. The image is deliberately spare, with the physical dominance of the wall set against the fragility of a single painted word, yet that simplicity gives the work much of its force. Within Banksy’s wider practice, graffiti frequently operates as a way of challenging the authority of architecture, introducing a human voice onto surfaces defined by control, ownership or division.
Here, the word LOVE becomes an intervention in its own right, shifting the wall from an apparently neutral structure into a surface carrying emotion, protest and possibility.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Wall Section Love (2017). Available via GraffitiStreet.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Wall Section Hope (2017)
Hope forms a natural counterpart to Love, once again showing a hooded figure painting directly onto the West Bank barrier. The change of word alters the emotional register of the sculpture, moving from affection towards endurance and expectation, while the imposing concrete architecture remains unchanged around it.
The strength of these early works lies in this imbalance of scale. The wall appears physically overwhelming, while the act of painting is small and vulnerable, yet the language placed upon its surface changes how the structure is read. Banksy’s use of HOPE therefore becomes less a decorative gesture than a reminder of the continuing possibility of resistance, imagination and alternative futures within a landscape shaped by division.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Wall Section Hope (2017). Available via GraffitiStreet.
Walled Off Hotel “Love is in the Air / Flower Thrower” sculpture (2018)
The Banksy – Walled Off Hotel “Love is in the Air / Flower Thrower” sculpture, brings one of Banksy’s most recognisable images back into an architectural context closely connected to its origins. The original mural ‘Flower thrower/ Love is in the air’ appeared in the region in 2003, depicting a masked protester whose raised arm and athletic stance suggest imminent violence, only for the expected weapon to be replaced by a bouquet of flowers.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Wall Section “Love Is In The Air – Flower Thrower” (2018). Available via GraffitiStreet.
That substitution remains one of Banksy’s most economical visual strategies. The posture retains its aggression, but the object in the figure’s hand redirects the gesture towards peace, reconciliation and the possibility of another response to conflict. When the image is transferred onto a miniature section of the barrier, its meaning becomes further concentrated, with the architecture itself entering the composition as both subject and political context.
Banksy – Love is in the Air (Flower Thrower), Jerusalem. Image copyright GraffitiStreet
Within the Walled Off Hotel, the motif also appears in the piano bar as a framed triptych incorporating dried flowers, extending the image beyond the street and into the theatrical interior of the hotel itself. Read more about Banksy’s art at the Walled Off Hotel.
Walled Off Hotel Wall Section “Gaza Kitty – I Want My Ball Back” (2019)
The Banksy – Walled Off Hotel “Gaza Kitty … I want my ball back” sculpture is a striking piece that draws inspiration from his mural painted in Gaza. The original mural, which depicts an oversized kitten playing among the remains of a damaged building created by Banksy during his visit to the area in 2015, where he accessed Gaza through a series of underground tunnels.
The original work deliberately exploited the internet’s appetite for cute animal imagery, using the familiar appeal of a kitten to draw attention towards destruction and human suffering that might otherwise pass unnoticed within the endless circulation of online images.
Banksy ‘Kitten’ in Gaza 2015. Image Copyright Banksy
In the sculptural version, the Walled Off Hotel “Gaza Kitty … I want my ball back” sculpture integrates the Gaza mural which is now painted onto the imposing walls of the West Bank barrier sculpture. The sculpture is complete with the rusty ball as true to the mural, whereas graffiti has been added with the words ” I want my ball back”. In true Banksy style, the assertive message is a powerful symbol of coexistence and understanding that transcends boundaries. The sculpture serves as a reminder of the significance of compassion and empathy towards our neighbours, and it represents the hope for peace and reconciliation.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Wall Section “Gaza Kitty – I Want My Ball Back” (2019). Available via GraffitiStreet.
Walled Off Hotel Defeated Sculptures
The later Defeated Wall sculptures expanded the scale and ambition of the series, presenting the barrier in a state of damage, collapse or active resistance. Rather than treating the wall as fixed and permanent, these works imagine it as vulnerable to intervention, with hooded figures painting across its surface or physically breaking through the concrete with tools.
This change is significant because the architecture itself begins to carry narrative meaning. Earlier sections present the wall as something to write upon, while the defeated sculptures imagine what might happen when that structure begins to fail. Cracks, missing sections and broken surfaces introduce a speculative dimension into the work, turning the miniature barrier into an image of possible transformation.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Sling Shot Rat Defeated Wall Sculpture (2019-2020). Available via Graffitistreet
The Slingshot Rat defeated wall section revisits Banksy’s 2007 Bethlehem mural of a small rat armed with a slingshot, setting a character associated with resistance against the overwhelming physical scale of the surrounding barrier. Explore Banksy’s murals in Palestine.
Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Helium Balloon Love Hurts” sculpture (2018)
The Banksy – Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Helium Balloon Love Hurts” sculpture defeated wall sculpture draws directly from the artwork installed above the four-poster bed in the Banksy-designed Presidential Suite at the Walled Off Hotel. In the original setting, a metallic heart appears wounded and patched, suspended against the uneasy presence of barbed wire, bringing an image associated with affection into direct contact with symbols of injury, restriction and endurance.
Banksy Walled off Hotel, Presidential suite, Bethlehem.
The Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Helium Balloon Love Hurts” sculpture retains that emotional tension, combining the silver inflatable heart and crossed gold plasters with the broken architecture of the wall and a hooded figure working across its surface. Love appears damaged but persistent, and the physical deterioration of the barrier introduces another layer of meaning, suggesting that vulnerability and resilience can coexist within the same image.
GraffitiStreet experienced the original Love Hurts installation first-hand while staying in the Presidential Suite in 2017, where its meaning was inseparable from the room, the hotel and the barrier immediately beyond. Within the defeated wall sculpture, that site-specific encounter is compressed into a smaller object while preserving the central tension between intimacy and the structures that place it under pressure.
Banksy – Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Helium Balloon Love Hurts” sculpture. Available via GraffitiStreet
Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Girl with Balloon” sculpture (2018)
The Banksy – Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Girl with Balloon” sculpture brings one of Banksy’s most familiar images into a setting that fundamentally changes how it can be read. The young girl reaches towards, releases or loses a red heart-shaped balloon, an image whose ambiguity has long allowed hope and loss to occupy the same gesture.
Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ . Image Copyright Banksy
The Walled Off Hotel Defeated “Girl with Balloon” sculpture places Banksy’s iconic image against the broken architecture of the Walled Off Hotel sculpture, the balloon’s ability to move freely through the air becomes newly significant. The concrete wall establishes division, weight and physical restriction, while the balloon occupies a space beyond those limitations, introducing ideas of distance, freedom and crossing without requiring them to be stated directly.
The sculpture also incorporates the Palestinian flag, the words Love and Freedom, and symbols associated with peace and coexistence, creating a dense visual field in which Banksy’s familiar motif is absorbed into the wider political language of the project. The strength of the work lies in the way these elements interact rather than operate independently, with the girl, the balloon, the fractured wall and the surrounding graffiti collectively transforming a globally recognised Banksy image into something firmly rooted in the context of Bethlehem.
Banksy – Walled Off Hotel “Girl With Balloon” Sculpture. Available via GraffitiStreet.
More Than a Souvenir
The Walled Off Hotel sculptures form a particularly revealing chapter within Banksy’s practice because they preserve the language of public intervention while shifting it into the scale and material culture of collecting. The concrete-grey walls, familiar figures, political messages and hand-painted details continue to carry the visual memory of Bethlehem even after the objects have moved into entirely different settings.
Their meaning is therefore bound to context as much as imagery. Some speak through words such as Love, Hope and Freedom, while others draw on existing Banksy motifs associated with conflict, childhood, resilience and the possibility of change. Across the series, the wall remains the constant element, functioning as architecture, surface, subject and symbol at the same time.
Seen together, these sculptures reveal how Banksy extended the Walled Off Hotel beyond the physical boundaries of the building. Each object carries a fragment of its visual language into another place, preserving the tension between monument and miniature, public space and private ownership, while reminding the collector that the structure represented by the object remains part of a much larger and more complex reality.
Banksy Walled Off Hotel Donkey Documents Watchtower Sculpture (2019-2020). Available via GraffitiStreet
The Donkey Documents wall section revisits Banksy’s 2007 Bethlehem mural depicting an armed soldier inspecting the identification papers of a donkey, using absurdity to reflect on checkpoints, bureaucracy and restricted movement. Explore Banksy’s murals in Palestine.
Grappling Hook: A Different Kind of Walled Off Hotel Release
Among the works associated with the Walled Off Hotel, Grappling Hook occupies a markedly different position from the miniature souvenir wall sections. Released in 2017 as a signed edition of just 26, the sculptural work combines a wooden crucifix-like form with a military-style grappling hook, metal fittings and rope, bringing together the visual language of religion, conflict and attempted passage in a deliberately uneasy object. Banksy described it at the time as a “military grade grappling hook and combination spiritual ornament”, a typically dry formulation that allowed the absurdity of the object to carry much of its political charge.
GraffitiStreet encountered the work during our visit to The Walled Off Hotel in September 2017. Visitors interested in acquiring Grappling Hook were invited to leave their name and email address to enter a lottery for the chance to purchase one of the 26 works, a process that made acquiring the piece feel very different from simply buying an object from the hotel gift shop.
Bonhams sold example 24/26 in March 2019 for £83,306.85 including premium. Image copyright Banksy
Conceptually, the work belongs perfectly within the hotel. A grappling hook is designed to overcome an obstacle, while the cruciform structure introduces the religious history of a region where sacred geography and political boundaries exist in close proximity. Banksy brings those meanings together within an object that is functional in appearance yet fundamentally theatrical, turning the possibility of crossing the wall into a sculptural proposition about faith, movement and restriction.
Discover Banksy at GraffitiStreet
GraffitiStreet has worked with Banksy artworks for more than thirteen years, developing specialist knowledge across authenticated prints, rare works, unique editions and Walled Off Hotel sculptures, while following the artist’s public interventions and wider cultural impact at first hand. Our understanding of the Walled Off Hotel is rooted in direct experience. In 2017, during the hotel’s first year, we travelled to Bethlehem, photographed Banksy’s works in situ, stayed at the hotel in the Presidential suite and spent time experiencing the project within Palestine and community that shaped it.
That visit also became personal. Beyond the artworks and architecture, we formed friendships and connections with people Palestine whose generosity, knowledge and perspective gave us a deeper understanding of the Walled Off Hotel as a living cultural project rather than simply a destination associated with Banksy. Those relationships, together with our first-hand experience of the hotel and the works originally released there, continue to inform the way we approach Walled Off Hotel sculptures today, particularly when considering provenance, context, condition and the history carried by individual pieces.
The Peace Dove wall section revisits Banksy’s 2007 Bethlehem mural, in which the traditional symbol of peace appears in body armour beneath the sights of a weapon. Explore Banksy’s murals in Palestine.
Discover Banksy artworks through GraffitiStreet online or experience selected works in person at GraffitiStreet Gallery, 25A West Street, Chichester, West Sussex, England PO19 1QW. Our current collection includes Banksy works and Walled Off Hotel pieces, while collectors searching for a particular edition, sculpture or harder-to-find work are welcome to contact us directly, as we regularly source rare and significant Banksy material through our international network.
GraffitiStreet gallery presents Banksy Editions Volume I Exhibition – Comfort / Disturb, Chichester.
Explore Banksy artworks at GraffitiStreet or contact us to discuss availability, acquisitions, sourcing and private viewings.
Each purchase of Walled Off Hotel collectables contributes to the ongoing support of The Walled Off Hotel, Palestine.