Climate activists throw maple syrup on Emily Carr painting (VIDEO)
Activists threw maple syrup on an Emily Carr painting at the Vancouver Art Gallery in protest this weekend.
Demonstrators with Stop Fracking Around are calling for an immediate end to the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline on unceded Wet’suwet’en lands.
Climate activists throw Maple Syrup at Emily Carr's "Stumps and Sky" at Vancouver Art Gallery to demand an end to the Coastal GasLink Pipeline currently drilling under the sacred Wedzin Kwa river on unceded @Gidimten Wet'suwet'en lands#KillTheDrill #WetsuwetenStrong pic.twitter.com/KiOr0zKkZk
— Stop Fracking Around (@StopFrackingA) November 12, 2022
On Saturday, November 12, climate activists squirted maple syrup all over Emily Carr’s “Stumps and Sky.” The oil on paper work dates back to 1934, and Carr is one of the most renowned artists from BC. Her works featured the BC landscape and were inspired by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.
Erin Fletcher, one teenage demonstrator, also glued herself to the frame of the painting. She hopes to bring attention to the drilling under the Wedzinka River on Wet’suwet’en lands in Northern BC.
“We are in a climate emergency. We are taking this action following Remembrance Day to remind ourselves of the countless deaths that took place, and will continue to take place, due to the greed, corruption and incompetence of our leaders,” she said in a release.
She’s prepared to be taken into Vancouver Police custody.
Constable Steve Addison with Vancouver Police confirmed that Vancouver Art Gallery staff called police after two women entered the gallery and put maple syrup on a painting while a third person appeared to be taking pictures.
“We believe we know who the women are and will conduct a full investigation. No arrests have been made at this time,” said Addison.
BREAKING: MAPLE SYRUP THROWN ON EMILY CARR PAINTING BY ACTIVISTS
💀 Why are we protecting these paintings when we are not respecting indigenous law nor protecting the millions of lives that will be lost due to climate and societal collapse? pic.twitter.com/qDB0W9AuE3
— Stop Fracking Around (@StopFrackingA) November 12, 2022
According to a statement shared by the Vancouver Art Gallery following the incident, they say they condemn “acts of vandalism towards the works of cultural significance in our care, or in any museum.”
Director and CEO of the Vancouver Art Gallery Anthony Kiendl said, “a central part of our mission is to make safer spaces for communication and ideas. As a non-profit charity, we are an institution of memory and care for future generations.”
“We do support the free expression of ideas, but not at the expense of suppressing the ideas and artistic expressions of others or otherwise inhibiting people from access to those ideas.”
Gallery staff believe that there is no permanent damage to the artwork.
“The Gallery condemns this act and works to preserve and protect culturally significant works for all British Columbians and Canadians,” they said.
According to Stop Fracking Around, their actions at the gallery are guided by World War I Canada Corps Commander Julian Byng’s sentiment that “in an emergency, the man who does something is sometimes wrong, but the man who does nothing is always wrong.”
“When we go over two degrees Celsius increase in global average temperatures, we are looking at death and starvation at an unprecedented scale due to inaction on climate change,” said Fletcher.
“The Wet’suwet’en nation has made it very clear that they do not want this pipeline on their unceded lands. This is a question for all Canadians: what does reconciliation really mean to us if it is not reflected in our actions as a nation?”
Climate activists worldwide have been demonstrating at art galleries by defacing well-known works of art with food.
In October, oil protesters threw tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting. Shortly after, protesters tossed mashed potatoes at a Monet. In response to these recent incidents, the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) issued a statement earlier this month saying that attacks on works of art are unjustifiable.
In response to recent attacks on works of art in art museums, AAMD issued the following statement. pic.twitter.com/27W5hRQ7ic
— Art Museum Directors (@MuseumDirectors) November 3, 2022
Maple syrup is a Canadian twist on the global protest movement trend, so is poutine next?
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