2023-04-28 16:44:16
Arms in the air, hands full of black and red paint, two environmental activists pose in front of a whitewashed display case at the National Gallery in Washington. Behind them, “The little fourteen-year-old dancer” by Edgar Degas. The museum was the target of a new action by climate activists on Thursday April 27, following the tomato sauce thrown on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers or the mashed potatoes on Monet’s Millstones, aimed at warning regarding climate change, this time around. signed by the “Declare Emergency” collective.
The group presented the authors of this operation – with white hair contrasting with the youth of the militants involved in this kind of ordinary action – as being “two parents terrified of the future of their children (as well as all the other children)” who wanted to remember that “climate change will lead to famine, floods, drought and destruction if we don’t act now”. His campaign, detailed on its websiteis particularly aimed at President Joe Biden, whom activists are calling on to declare a state of climate emergency.
Around 11 am today two parents who are terrified regarding their children’s’ futures (as well as all children) made a statement at the National Gallery in DC. Climate change will cause famine, floods, droughts and destruction unless we act now. #DecEmergency #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/ClM7fBOiPj
— Declare Emergency (@DecEmergency) April 27, 2023
According to the environmental collective, the two activists were released shortly following their arrest. The museum, one of the largest in the United States, announced that the American Federal Police (FBI) was participating in the investigation. “We categorically denounce this physical attack on one of our works of art,” said the institution, adding that the statue had been removed from exhibition halls for “assess for possible damage” that she would have suffered.
The statue of Degas was not chosen at random. “Through non-violent rebellion, we have temporarily defiled a work of art to evoke the very real children whose suffering is certain if deadly fossil fuel corporations continue to extract coal, oil and gas from floors»denounced the collective on Instagram.
Minimizing the possible damage and spinning the metaphor: “The little dancer is protected in her air-conditioned box, but the people, animals and ecosystems currently struggling and dying in extreme weather events are not”. The painting, red and black, symbolized her, “oil and blood”.
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#Washington #ecofriendly #parents #attack #Dancer #Degas #Liberation
