In Don’t Believe the Type, Banksy deploys his trademark humour to satirise authority and challenge the idea of street art as mere vandalism. Street artists are often criminalised for what is seen as defacement of public or private property, yet here Banksy subverts this notion by designating the wall itself as an “official” graffiti space.

The work embodies Banksy’s vision of a city transformed by creativity:

“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked.  Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big businesses. Imagine a city like that and stop leaning against the wall—it’s wet.”

— Banksy, cited in Paul Gough, Banksy: The Bristol Legacy, Bristol, 2010