Disputed Banksy graffiti art sold for $1.1M in London

A disputed Banksy graffiti artwork removed from a gritty London neighbourhood has sold for approximately $1.1 million US at auction.

The provocative Slave Labour (Bunting Boy) sold at a private auction held by concierge firm The Sincura Group at the London Film Museum on Sunday, according toBloomberg news service.

• Controversial Banksy graffiti art set for sale again

The spray-painted, stenciled work depicts a child labourer using an antique sewing machine to create a Union Jack bunting.

The graffiti piece appeared on an outer wall of a thrift shop in London's Wood Green district in May 2012, around the time of thecelebrations surrounding Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. Viewed as a commentary on sweatshop labour, the work drew crowds of onlookers and art-lovers to the gritty Turnpike Lane area.

• Banksy graffiti ripped off London wall, put on auction in U.S.

The artwork garnered widespread attention in Februaryafter reports that it had vanishedapparently chiselled off the thrift shop's exterior wall, which was then plastered over. When it turned up for auction in Miami, a vocal campaign calling for the return of Slave Labour (Bunting Boy) to its original site led to the piece being withdrawn from auction.

However, the owners of the buildingthe legal owners of the artwork decided to try again, despite continued objections from British politicians and street-art fans that it be returned to the site where it was created to be enjoyed by the public.