Cover not available
Article published In:
Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 9:1 (2019) ► pp.83–106

Actiones secundum fidei [1] 1

Antithesis and metaphoric conceptualization in Banksy’s graffiti art

| Sechenov University | University of Gdańsk
| KU Leuven

In this article, we describe how antithesis and metaphoric conceptualization interact with each other and which rhetorical effects this interaction brings about. We illustrate this interaction with an analysis of seventeen graffiti artworks by Banksy, who uses the contraposition of visual elements that are characterized by opposite semantic and affective values. This article contributes to the expanding field of empirical studies of visual/pictorial metaphors and antitheses, in which artworks are interpreted according to conceptual dynamics and not only in relation to their thematic, semiotic and representational properties.

Keywords: antithesis, visual/pictorial metaphor, conceptual interaction, art, Banksy
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
  • 3.Banksy’s graffiti art
  • 4.Material and methods
    • 4.1Material
    • 4.2Methods
  • 5.Analysis and results
    • 5.1Metaphors and antitheses in Banksy’s graffiti art
      • 1. a security device is a non-urban entity
      • 2. a barcode is a cage
      • 3. an abandoned urban entity is an object of interest
      • 4. a fast-food customer is a caveman
      • 5. a weapon is a non-weapon
      • 6. a shopping bag is a national flag
      • 7. a refugee is an iconic character
      • 8. a child is a security guard
      • 9. the human organizational entity is a brittle object
      • 10.Statue of liberty is a child
      • 11. prohibition is a toy
      • 12.A tv set is a pet (a figure of affection)
  • 6.Discussion and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 May 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.17021.pop
References
BBC News
(2014) New Banksy artwork in Bristol removed with crowbar by local club. BBC News [online]. Available at: [URL] [Accessed 15 January 2017].
Black, M.
(1954) Metaphor. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 551, 273–294. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1979) More about metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (pp. 19–43). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bounegru, L., & Forceville, C.
(2011) Metaphors in editorial cartoons representing the global financial crisis. Visual Communication, 10(2), 209–229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Buckland, W.
(2015) Visual rhetoric in Michel Gondry’s music videos: Antithesis and similarity in Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication, 51, 49–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Charteris-Black, J.
(2004) Corpus approaches to critical metaphor analysis. Berlin: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) Forensic deliberations on ‘purposeful metaphor’. Metaphor and the Social World, 2(1), 1–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cienki, A., & Müller, C.
(Eds.) (2008) Metaphor and gesture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coëgnarts, M., & Kravanja, P.
(2012a) Embodied visual meaning: Image schemas in film. Projections, 6(2), 84–101. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012b) From thought to modality: A theoretical framework for analysing structural-conceptual metaphors and image metaphors in film. Image & Narrative, 13(1), 96–113.Google Scholar
Collins, L.
(2007) Banksy was here. The New Yorker [online]. Available at: [URL] [Accessed 15 January 2017].
Cornevin, V., & Forceville, C.
(2017) From metaphor to allegory: the Japanese manga Afuganisu-tan. Metaphor and the Social World, 7(2), 236–252. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crisp, P.
(2005) Allegory, blending, and possible situations. Metaphor and Symbol, 20(2), 115–131. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2008) Between extended metaphor and allegory: Is blending enough? Language and Literature, 17(4), 291–308. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
El Refaie, E.
(2003) Understanding visual metaphor: The example of newspaper cartoons. Visual Communication, 2(1), 75–95. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellsworth-Jones, W.
(2013) The story behind Banksy. February: Smithsonian Magazine. [URL]
Fahnestock, J.
(1999) Rhetorical figures in science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2003) Verbal and visual parallelism. Written Communication, 201, 123–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forceville, C.
(1988) The case for pictorial metaphor: René Magritte and other Surrealists. Vestnik IMS, 9(1), 150–160.Google Scholar
(2002) The identification of target and source in pictorial metaphors. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(1), 1–14. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006) Non-verbal and multimodal metaphor in a cognitivist framework: Agendas for research. In G. Kristiansen, M. Achard, R. Dirven, & F. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibàñez (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics: Current applications and future perspectives (pp. 379–402). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2008) Metaphor in pictures and multimodal representations. In Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 462–482). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) Metonymy in visual and audiovisual discourse. In E. Ventola, A. Jésus, & M. Guijarro (Eds.), The world told and the world shown: Issues in multisemiotics (pp. 56–74). Basingstoke/New York: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
(2013) Metaphor and symbol: searching for one’s identity is looking for a home in animation film. In M. J. Pinár (Ed.), “Multimodality and cognitive linguistics” issue of Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 11(2), 250–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forceville, C., & Urios-Aparasi, E.
(Eds.) (2009) Multimodal metaphor. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., Jr.
(Ed.) (2008) The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goatly, A.
(2007) Washing the brain metaphor and hidden ideology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnston, C.
(2014) Council removes Banksy artwork after complaints of racism. The Guardian [online]. Available at: [URL] [Accessed 15 January 2017].
Kövecses, Z.
(2010) Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M.
(1980) Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1999) Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Landau, M. J., Meier, B. P., & Keefer, L. A.
(2010) A metaphor-enriched social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 136(6), 1045–1067. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Manco, T.
(2002) Stencil graffiti. New York: Street Graphics/Street Art.Google Scholar
Meier, B. P., & Dionne, S.
(2009) Downright sexy: Verticality, implicit power, and perceived physical attractiveness. Social Cognition, 27(6), 883–892. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Musolff, A.
(2004) Metaphor and conceptual evolution. Metaphorik.de, 71, 55–75.Google Scholar
(2016) Political metaphor analysis: Discourse and scenarios. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Ortony, A.
(1979) Beyond literal similarity. Psychological Review, 86(3), 161–167. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phillips, B. J., & McQuarrie, E. F.
(2004) Beyond visual metaphor: A new typology of visual rhetoric in advertising. Marketing Theory, 4(1–2), 113–136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poppi, F. I. M., & Kravanja, P.
(2017) Annuntiatio Domini: Metaphoric conceptualization and gesture analysis in painted representations of the Annunciation. Public Journal of Semiotics, 8(1), 26–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poppi, F. I., & Urios-Aparisi, E.
(2019) De Corporibus Humanis: Metaphor and ideology in the representation of the human body in cinema. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(4), 295–314. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reyburn, S.
(2013) Disputed Banksy mural sells for more than $ 1.1 Million. Bloomberg Business [online]. Available at: [URL] [Accessed 15 January 2017].
Rompay, T. van
(2005) Expressions: Embodiment in the experience of design. Unpublished PhD thesis, Technische Universiteit Delft, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, A.
(2008) Rembrandt’s creation of the pictorial metaphor of self. Metaphor and Symbol, 231, 108–129. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schilperoord, J., & Maes, A.
(2009) Visual metaphoric conceptualization in editorial cartoons. In C. Forceville & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal metaphor (pp. 213–240). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Smith, N.
(2010) Boy of seven works 98-hour week. The Sunday Times [online]. Available at: [URL] [Accessed 22 January 2016].
Sontag, S.
(1977) On photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Google Scholar
Stephens, S.
(2006) Fun with vandalism: The illegal street art of Shepard Fairey and Banksy. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cincinnati, U.S.A.Google Scholar
Sweetser, E.
(2017) Metaphor and metonymy in advertising: Building viewpoint in multimodal multi-space blends. Journal of Pragmatics, 1221, 65–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Teng, N. Y., & Sun, S.
(2002) Grouping, simile, and oxymoron in pictures: A design-based cognitive approach. Metaphor and Symbol, 171, 295–316. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tseronis, A., & Forceville, C.
(2017a) The argumentative relevance of visual and multimodal antithesis in Frederick Wiseman’s documentaries. In A. Tseronis & C. Forceville (Eds.), Multimodal argumentation and rhetoric in media genres (pp. 165–188). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017b) Arguing against corporate claims visually and multimodally: The genre of subvertisements. Multimodal Communication, 61, 1–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Urios-Aparisi, E.
(2009) Interaction of multimodal metaphor and metonymy in TV commercials: Four case studies. In C. Forceville & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal metaphor (pp. 329–356). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Van Mulken, M., Le Pair, R., & Forceville, C.
(2010) The impact of perceived complexity, deviation and comprehension on the appreciation of visual metaphor in advertising across three European countries. Journal of Pragmatics, 42(12), 3418–3430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zbikowski, L. M.
(2009) Music, language, and multimodal metaphor. In C. Forceville & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal metaphor (pp. 359–381). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 5 other publications

Ng, Ian Aik-Soon
2020. Constructing an Art-Life: Tourism and Street Art in Sarawak. In Contemporary Asian Artistic Expressions and Tourism [Perspectives on Asian Tourism, ], ► pp. 59 ff. DOI logo
Poppi, Fabio & Peter Kravanja
2019. Sic vita est: Visual representation in painting of the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY . Semiotica 2019:230 ► pp. 541 ff. DOI logo
Poppi, Fabio I. M., Marianna Bolognesi & Amitash Ojha
2020. Imago Dei: Metaphorical conceptualization of pictorial artworks within a participant-based framework. Semiotica 2020:236-237 ► pp. 349 ff. DOI logo
Poppi, Fabio Indìo Massimo & Peter Kravanja
2021. Aurora musis amica: Metaphoric conceptualization of depression in online visual representations. Visual Communication 20:4 ► pp. 443 ff. DOI logo
Stampoulidis, Georgios & Marianna Bolognesi
2023. Bringing metaphors back to the streets: a corpus-based study for the identification and interpretation of rhetorical figures in street art. Visual Communication 22:2 ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.