Laugh Now is one of Banksy’s most iconic works, first commissioned as a mural for the Ocean Rooms nightclub in Brighton. The original featured a row of ten stencilled monkeys, each bearing a sandwich board that read: “Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge.”

By portraying apes as downtrodden figures made to wear advertising signs, Banksy highlights issues of speciesism, oppression, and the abuse of animals in captivity and experimentation. At the same time, the phrase resonates as a broader metaphor for the marginalised and overlooked, suggesting that those dismissed by society may eventually overturn hierarchies of power.

The imagery also recalls Planet of the Apes, a film that carried cultural significance for Banksy’s generation, while nodding to anxieties sparked by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. The work was later released as a print in an edition of 150 signed and 600 unsigned copies. In 2008, a painting of Laugh Now sold for over $500,000, cementing its place as a landmark in Banksy’s career.