Immediately recognizable and instantly touching, Girl with Balloon is one of Banksy’s best-known images. It depicts a young child who reaches out to a red heart-shaped balloon that is just out of her reach, as her hair and dress are blown by a strong gust of wind. It is ambiguous as to whether she has intentionally released the balloon, evoking an endearing image of childhood freedom, or if she has accidentally lost her grip on the dangling string and is watching in despair as the balloon slips into oblivion. Either way, when the work was graffitied on London’s Waterloo Bridge (later removed by the council), Banksy paired it with the phrase ‘There is always hope’. Because of this the work has come to represent both childhood innocence and the importance of maintaining hope, even in the darkest of times.