An action that scandalized as much as it raised questions. Last Friday, two activists from the Just Stop Oil movement dumped tomato soup on Van Gogh’s masterpiece the sunflowers, exhibited at the National Gallery in London. After the surprise, the museum had finally assured that only the frame had suffered slight damage and that the canvas was protected by glass.
Arrested for “degradation”, the two activists were finally released a few hours later before being summoned by the British justice system. One of them, Phoebe Plummer explained in more detail, in a video published this Tuesday, the reasons for her act.
“I would like to be clear, we do not damage the painting”, he begins, and says that “we would never have considered this action if we were not sure that the work was protected”.
“I recognize that it sounds like a ridiculous action. I agree, it is ridiculous! What we are doing is provoking the debate, so that it can happen, so that we can ask the questions that matter,” he adds.
“There is no time to lose”
This new action by the group, which had already targeted works of art in the past, is part of a month of actions in which they have also blocked roads on several occasions.
“The cost of living crisis comes from fossil fuels. Daily life has become unaffordable for millions of families who are cold and hungry, unable to even buy a can of soup”, he already said in a statement from his movement. .
As a conclusion to her video, the young woman affirms, “we have no time to lose, what we are going to do in the next three or four years will determine the future of humanity.”
“If I am here in front of you, as a queer woman, and if I have the right to vote, if I can go to university, if one day I can marry the person I love, it is because people have made civil resistance. actions in front of me”.
Source: BFM TV
