"If I’d kept my mouth shut about this tank [one assumes to Banksy], it’d have been here forever."
The Independent has posted an article by Guy Adams with information submitted from Zack Skelly including video clips showing Tachowa Covington during his last day at the 'Elephant' of a water tanker.
Even though the folks at Banksy'sElephant, the current owners of the piece and those responsabile for its removal, have vehemently denied Tachowa's living there at the time, these videos tell a different story.
"That was my shit," Tachowa says of the water tanker, as he describes how he was there in the tanker the night the 'Elephant' artwork went up. Tachowa says he gave permission to a man who came by, assumably Banksy, who asked if it was allright to paint on the structure. Tachowa granted the permission, but has regrets about that since. He says on the video, "if I’d kept my mouth shut about this tank [one assumes to Banksy], it’d have been here forever."
It seems that this man, Tachowa, really was made homeless, or, at least more so, by the removal of the water tanker.
And even if Banksy can't be directly blamed for making this homeless, the placement is puzzling. No one is accusing Banksy of intending to put a man out of a home. Still, this tanker had been at the center of a heated land battle between the local community association who wanted its removal, and Tachowa, who was petitioning for squatters rights. In light of all this background, one has to wonder why this piece was chosen for Banksy's artwork?
