Applause is an intervention of a photograph using a stencil as the main technique.

The political message behind this piece is played with irony, while bushland workers hold a sign for an invisible audience, encouraging them to laugh at the view of a military plane taking off from a military naval ship.

The concept of war is not something we should laugh about, something deeply internalized in our culture. This image makes us question the true absurdity of our modern war and military affairs affairs.

Banksy used a well-known source image of former American President George W. Bush de-planing a military bomber. A figure in the foreground holds up a cue card with the word “APPLAUSE” emblazoned across it, as if to say, “You are expected to act like this man who sent your country to war is a hero, so act like it.”