One of the two climate activists who smeared tomato soup onto a Vincent van Gogh painting has defended the move as critical in the battle for the planet.
Phoebe Plummer, a 21-year-old university student who uses they/them pronouns, was adamant that the splattering of tomato soup over Van Gogh’s painting Sunflowers on display at London’s National Gallery in mid-October was needed to raise awareness and whip up the political will to address climate change.
WATCH: CLIMATE EXTREMISTS THROW SOUP AT VAN GOGH PAINTING WORTH $84M
“It’s a beautiful work of art and I think a lot of people, when they saw us, had feelings of shock or horror or outrage because they saw something beautiful and valuable and they thought it was being damaged or destroyed. But, you know, where is that emotional response when it’s our planet and our people that are being destroyed,” Plummer told NPR.
The painting dates back to the 1880s and was reportedly valued at roughly $84.2 million. Fortunately, the painting was surrounded by glass, protecting it from tomato stains.
🥫 JUST STOP OIL SUPPORTERS CHOOSE LIFE OVER ART 🥫
🎨 Human creativity and brilliance is on show in this gallery, yet our heritage is being destroyed by our Government’s failure to act on the climate and cost of living crisis.#VanGogh #FreeLouis #FreeJosh #CivilResistance pic.twitter.com/gXXGLsi0ej
— Just Stop Oil ⚖️💀🛢 (@JustStop_Oil) October 14, 2022
They targeted the van Gogh painting because of its notoriety, Plummer added.
“I’m doing this so that one day I can look at my niece or nephew in the eye and say, ‘I fought for your future,'” Plummer added. “Our action, in particular, was a media-grabbing action to get people talking, not just about what we did, but why we did it.”
Plummer is a member of the Just Stop Oil activist group, which has embarked on similar protests over recent weeks such as blocking streets, smothering a King Charles III wax figure with chocolate cake, and gluing members to the frame of the van Gogh painting Peach Trees in Blossom.
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Just Stop Oil is demanding the British government “immediately halt all new fossil fuel licenses,” according to Plummer. Despite the United Kingdom’s skyrocketing energy prices that have hampered the economy, Plummer believes the country should rely on its “eight years’ worth of oil in reserves” while it transitions to a renewable future.
“Nobody should be left behind in a renewable future. But renewables are nine times cheaper,” Plummer contended. “The largest solar farm in the U.K. was built in just six weeks, whereas these new oil licenses that the government is proposing — it takes 15 to 25 years for any oil to even come out of the ground from these.”
