Cake on the Mona Lisa. Tomato soup on Van Gogh. Mashed potatoes on Monet. And
graffiti on Warhol. These are just some of the attacks that
have been made on famous art works in galleries and museums this year. And,
they all have one thing in common. They've come from people who say they're climate activists.
They're trying to prove that people are more outraged about a piece of art being destroyed,
than they are about climate change. Let's take a breath. None of these famous pieces
have actually been damaged yet, but these actions are designed to get people talking.
If there's no planet, there's no art.
This is Laura Wills, an artist who creates work about the environment.
I'm interested in how people connect to nature, and some of the themes that I've
explored in my work are about food and where it comes from and how far it travels and how
it should be accessible for everyone. Or plants, and threatened plants, animals.
I think my favourite part are the two clips at the front, to hold back the hair.
We've met up at a gallery to chat about the recent protests.
I think the activists have been successful in getting their message out there. It's drawn
attention. They don't want to cause harm, but they feel so passionate about their issues,
and they feel so passionate that things haven't been done and they want to get
the word out there. Also, maybe they’re trying to get attention from people who have a lot of money,
which is the small minority at the top. There are people in other places who don’t
have food or heating. It’s very unfair. This is activism and art intertwined,
really. It’s using the value and the prestige that art holds to share a message.
If your art was up somewhere, and
someone decided to make a similar point and vandalise your art, how would that make you feel?
Well, I would hope that if the point was about climate change that I would be
working with them to make the same point. And I feel like we would collaborate.
I'm really grateful that people have a lot of courage to do what they do.
I think, I take that back; I think these are my favourite.
Institutions are in a difficult position, because their job is to protect these artworks,
but also the people who work at these institutions are also worried about
climate change. They’re caught in a very difficult place. It’s hard,
because as soon as they say, ‘We condemn these actions’ then people will say, ‘Woah,
what’s the matter with you? Don’t you care about climate change?’ and it becomes unproductive.
This is Peter Drew.
Now, these are your works.
Yes.
Can you tell me a little bit about them and when you put them up?
Well, I put these up a few weeks ago. These are photographs from the National Archive of
Australia. They were excluded from being part of Australia, and my posters are a way of saying they
should be a part of Australia. My posters are about politics, but really, they’re about what
it means to belong, and belong in Australia. The way I try and go about that is by questioning the
audience, ‘Well, what do you think it means to belong?’ That way I hope I show I respect their
opinion enough, rather than just bashing them over the head with what I think they should think.”
Peter puts his work up in public places.
Would you classify the work you do as vandalism?
I guess technically it is. What I do is mostly illegal, but I try very hard to
find places like this where I think that they will be appreciated. Well, this is a
favourite spot of mine, but these posters were actually vandalised with some racist graffiti,
and I came the next day and fixed them up. I think it's very good to be passionate about making the
world a better place but what those activists are doing is really bullying, because they're picking
on the most vulnerable thing there is. Art is vulnerable. It's a miracle that these works have
made their way through the dangers of history, and to pick on them, I think that it shows a
real lack of courage, when you could be picking on things that are actually causing these problems.
Activism is a hard job. It’s not something where you do something, and then everyone
changes their mind all of a sudden. It’s about chipping away at people’s opinions. It doesn’t
always feel good or get you lots of attention. I think encouraging people and asking questions and
showing them a different way of thinking, giving them the power to decide, that's what works best.
In response to the vandalism, 93 museum directors from all around the world signed a statement that
says the activists are severely underestimating how fragile the artworks are. But what do you think?
The recent art vandalism attacks have been primarily just for publicity.
I think we might be beyond the point now where any publicity is good publicity.
I understand why they are protesting. But I
think there are definitely better ways that they can go about it.
Politicians, they're not going to take us seriously if all that we're doing is
defacing random things. They're going to brush it off as like some random teens being teens.