Prankster artist places Guantanamo detainee figure at Disneyland ride
Last Updated: Monday, September 11, 2006 | 5:08 PM ET
CBC Arts
Guerilla artist Banksy has struck again, this time placing a life-size figure of a Guantanamo Bay detainee at Disneyland in California.
The hooded figure, a blow-up doll wearing the detention centre's orange coveralls, sat inside the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride for about 90 minutes on the weekend before it was removed.
A spokesperson for the British artist said the stunt's aim was to underline the plight of terror suspects being held at the controversial detention centre in Cuba, run by the American government.
Amnesty International has called the centre a "human rights scandal."
Banksy, who has managed to keep his identity under wraps, is known for his subversive stunts, including ones in which he put fake works of art in well-known galleries in London, New York and Paris.
He doctored 500 CDs of Paris Hilton's first album last week. He replaced her CD with one containing a 40-minute remix featuring her catchphrase "That's hot" from her Simple Life series.
Photos of the celebrity heiress on the CD sleeve were altered, making her topless in one and sporting the head of a dog in another.
Music stores across Britain were sent scrambling to locate the CDs, but none of the stores reported that any were returned.
Last year, the Bristol-based artist spray-painted nine idyllic scenes on the Palestinian side of the Israeli barrier featuring beach and mountain vistas.
On his website, Banksy announced an event he was holding in Los Angeles this weekend billed as a "three day vandalized warehouse extravaganza," with the location to be announced on the site.
