Napalm

This piece by the famous street artist Banksy takes one of the most haunting photographs of the 20th century and gives it a disturbing twist. The girl in the center is based on Kim Phuc, the young Vietnamese child captured running from a napalm attack in Nick Ut's Pulitzer Prize winning photo from 1972. Banksy strips away the original soldiers and replaces them with two of the most recognizable symbols of American consumer culture, Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald, who grin and wave as they pull her along by the hands.

The contrast is deliberately uncomfortable. Two cheerful corporate mascots, both smiling for the camera, seem completely unbothered by the suffering of the child between them. Banksy is making a sharp point about how Western culture sells happiness and innocence while looking away from the real cost of war and the spread of consumerism around the globe. Created in 2004, the work fits squarely within Banksy's stencil based style, where simple black and white imagery delivers a punchy political message.

Like much of Banksy's output, the power here comes from familiarity. We know these characters and we know that photograph, so seeing them forced together hits harder than any original image could. It is provocative by design, meant to make you stop and question the cheerful brands we encounter every day.