<
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jan/20/frederick-mccubbins-descendants-back-protesters-who-defaced-artwork>
"The descendants of Frederick McCubbin have thrown their support behind two
protesters who allegedly defaced one of the artist’s most well-known and
significant paintings.
A video released by activist group Disrupt Burrup Hub on Thursday showed a
woman spray-painting a Woodside logo on McCubbin’s Down on his luck at the Art
Gallery of Western Australia. She then appeared to glue her hand to the wall
while a man unfurled an Aboriginal flag, made an acknowledgment of country and
spoke about the oil and gas company’s “ongoing desecration of sacred Murujuga
rock art”.
Woodside is expanding its operations on the Burrup peninsula, more than 1,200km
north of Perth in the Pilbara region. The peninsula, known as Murujuga to the
traditional owners, has the largest and oldest collection of petroglyphs, or
rock carvings, in the world.
Woodside’s industrial developments include fertiliser and gas plants, and
planned expansions require the petroglyphs to be moved.
The 1889 McCubbin oil on canvas, valued at $3m a decade ago, was protected by
Perspex and did not get damaged.
The artist’s great-granddaughter, artist Margot Edwards, said on Friday her
famous relative would have loved the attention.
“He would have laughed out loud and supported this very clever protest, which
has not harmed his painting in any way and has opened an important
conversation,” Edwards told the
Guardian on Friday."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
