Two climate activists glued themselves to a 200-year-old masterpiece in London’s National Gallery on Monday, the latest in a series of protests by British environmental group Just Stop Oil.
The duo covered John Constable’s famous landscape painting “The Hay Wain” with a modified version of the image before getting their hands on the frame.
The rally comes just a day after five Just Stop Oil activists disrupted the Formula 1 British Grand Prix as they sat on the track at Silverstone. Last week, members of the group also glued themselves to paintings in London, Glasgow and Manchester, including Vincent van Gogh’s famous “Peach Trees in Blossom”.
Completed in 1821, “The Hay Wain” is among Britain’s best-known works of art. Depicting the River Stour, which divides the English counties of Suffolk and Essex, it is considered one of Constable’s quintessential paintings.
The modified version of the protesters saw the river replaced by a paved road, with factory chimneys pictured in the background and planes flying overhead.
Just Stop Oil, which is calling on the UK government to block permits for future oil and gas extraction, identified the protesters as students Hannah Hunt and Eben Lazarus.
The London Metropolitan Police confirmed to the CNN that two people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and were later released on bail pending further investigation.
In a video of Monday’s incident, posted on Just Stop Oil’s Twitter account, Lazarus, a 22-year-old music student, can be heard telling viewers that the “reimagined” version of the painting “shows the destructive nature of our addiction to oil”.
Listen to why Eben took this action today.
Just Stop Oil has been targeting art, as well as sport as it is part of our collective culture.
We love our history and culture too much to just allow it all to be destroyed.
Join the resistance – https://t.co/7BzUVS02dZ pic.twitter.com/3c7sX8QSdl
— JustStopOil (@JustStop_Oil) July 4, 2022
“I want to work on the arts, not interrupt them,” he says. “But the situation we are in means that we have to do everything possible in a non-violent way to avoid the civilizational collapse that we are approaching.”
The National Gallery said the painting was removed from view after the incident and has since been scrutinized by conservators.
“’The Hay Wain’ suffered minor damage to its frame and there was also some break in the surface of the varnish in the painting – both have now been successfully treated,” the gallery told CNN in a statement, adding that the painting will be back on display starting this Tuesday (5).
Founded in early 2022, Just Stop Oil has embarked on a number of high-profile protests in recent months. In March, a Premier League football match was interrupted when a protester tied himself to one of the goal posts.
Last month, four of the group’s supporters covered the outer wall and steps of the UK government’s Treasury in red paint.
In a press release released by the group on Monday, Hunt, 23, said the protests would only end when “the UK government makes a significant statement that it will end new oil and gas licenses”.
“Ultimately, the new fossil fuels are a death project for our government,” said the psychology student.
“So, yes, there is glue in the frame of this painting, but there is blood on our government’s hands.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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