The UK-based organisation Just Stop Oil has taken to vandalising art to bring attention to climate change as a result of the use of fossil fuels. Photo: Markus Spiske/Pexels
Few jobs require you to put yourself in immediate danger and even break the law. But this is what activists face on a daily basis as they work to bring attention to their causes.
In October, fossil fuel protesters shocked the world when they threw soup over Van Gogh’s painting Sunflowers, valued at R1 524 542 040.
Or, as the demonstrators kept emphasising, its glass panel was pelted with soup, not the piece itself.
This was the work of UK-based Just Stop Oil, an organisation that is against the exploration, licensing and use of fossil fuels.
“What is worth more: art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?” asked Phoebe Plummer, a 21-year-old member of Just Stop Oil.
WATCH: Just Stop Oil protesters vandalise Van Gogh painting
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, Plummer said that throwing soup at a centuries-old painting might look like a ridiculous action, but that is the point.
“We’re not asking the question, should everyone be throwing soup at paintings? What we’re doing is getting the conversation going so we can ask the questions that matter,” she asked in the clip.
According to the organisation, the protest was to draw attention to the issue of climate change and ignite new conversations.
“You are outraged about this. Where is your outrage of 33 million people in Pakistan losing their livelihoods, 1000 million crabs gone from our oceans, the fire service pushed to breaking point due to 40 C heat?
“What should we protect, the conditions that allow humanity to make art, to be creative – or the masterpieces that will have no one to gaze on them,” said the group in a statement.
The organisation said they needed to shake things up and catch the media off guard because a change of pace was required, and the art action provided it.
“Most importantly, it shocked people because attacking art is a major cultural transgression. It violates a taboo. In our culture, art is sacred; to attack it feels almost blasphemous.”
Just Stop Oil has received criticism over the protests. However, it pointed to the long tradition of similar demonstrations throughout history.
According to the organisation, Van Gogh himself was a disruptor and a rebel, and art galleries should be more than just places to admire pretty pictures. “Especially at a time when staying in our comfort zone will result in the destruction of everything we hold dear.”
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