Bordalo II has once again addressed current events through his art, this time incorporating feces, a method he has utilized before.
“Benjamin Shitanyhau. A sh*thead spreading sh*tty ideas, doing sh*t,” wrote the artist on Instagram in a post shared on Tuesday, September 2, which has garnered almost 10,000 likes within 24 hours, including from several well-known Portuguese personalities.
Accompanying the caption are two photos and a video of his latest artistic intervention: a pair of underwear featuring the Israeli flag and a drawing of the country’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he dubbed “Benjamin Shitanyhau.” Placed literally above and beside is a pile of feces.
This marks the third installment of similar interventions by the Portuguese artist, as he highlighted in his Instagram stories on Tuesday night. Previously, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have also been targets of Bordalo II’s sharp commentary.
In 2020, when Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election, prompting Trump to leave office, it was the “hour of discharge at the White House.” Bordalo II depicted the moment with a feces-drawn Trump positioned over a toilet.
Two years later, in March 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, Vladimir Putin became the next subject of Bordalo II’s feces-themed art.
“Stop sh*tting in the potty. Your ego problems cannot be above people. War is blood,” he wrote at the time, in a post featuring a soldier defecating on the face of the Russian President.
Regarding the Middle East conflict, this is not the first time the artist has spoken out. In July, he created a mural with the phrase “sensitive content” and the colors of the Palestinian flag. Earlier, in November 2023, he painted a staircase at a Lisbon train station with the Palestinian flag stained red to represent the fatalities of the Gaza conflict.
Bordalo II’s most recent artistic intervention prior to this focused on the fight against the wildfires that ravaged Portugal for over two weeks in August, causing four deaths, several injuries, and millions of euros in damages.
At that time, the Portuguese artist shared an image of a burnt map of Portugal on a road sign. In the caption, Bordalo II wrote: “Responsibility, presence, and minimal competence…”.
