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National

New Banksy artwork dismantled by construction workers in English seaside town

The farmhouse had been earmarked for demolition to make way for new houses. (Instagram: Banksy)

A new artwork by anonymous street artist Banksy appeared on the side of a derelict farmhouse in the English coastal town of Herne Bay, Kent.

Posted to the artist's Instagram, the artwork shows the silhouette of a child opening curtains made of corrugated iron as a cat looks out the window.

Titled 'Morning has broken', the piece was created on the wall of a 500-year-old farmhouse that had been earmarked for demolition.

The Instagram post both confirmed suspicions Banksy was behind the artwork, and that the piece had been destroyed.

The final photo in the Instagram carousel showed a worker looking up at a gaping hole where the wall bearing the artwork was.

Builders on site told local Kent Online reporters that they had no idea it was a genuine Banksy and "felt sick" when they learned it was one of his pieces.

Banksy shared pictures of the mural and its demise on his Instagram page. (Instagram: Banksy)

The company in question was contacted by the ABC for comment but refused.

It is often the nature of street art to be fleeting.

In July 2020, Banksy painted a series of sneezing rats on a train on the London Underground, which were removed by cleaners for violating anti-graffiti policies.

In February this year, part of a piece believed to be a comment on domestic violence was removed by council workers.

The piece showed a 1950s housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth apparently putting a man in an abandoned chest freezer. That freezer was taken away by council workers within hours.

Ukraine released this postage stamp to mark the first anniversary of the war. The original artwork was painted on a house destroyed by shelling in Borodyanka, near Kyiv. (Supplied)

Late last year, Banksy ventured into Ukraine, painting murals on the shells of buildings destroyed by Russian attacks.

One artwork, depicting a young boy defeating a grown man in a judo bout, became the design for postage stamps marking the anniversary of the war last month.

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