Two activists vandalized a 130-year-old painting in response to the alleged destruction of Indigenous art by the major oil and gas company Woodside.
SOLIDARITY I am so proud to give my full support @burruphuband to @joanapartyka for her protest at AGWA last week. Jo has been a longtime member of my office team and I am in awe of her courageous actions to bring attention to the destruction of Murujuga’s sacred rock art. pic.twitter.com/BnOyjonSbL
— Senator Jordon Steele-John (@SenatorJordon) January 24, 2023
However, the stunt has drawn criticism from Aboriginal leader Warren Mundine, who said, “Two mistakes don’t make a right.”
In a video released January 19 by Disrupt Burrup Hub, ceramics artist Joana Partyka can be seen spray-painting the Woodside Energy logo – using a stencil – onto Fredrick McCubbin’s “Down on His Luck”, which has been part of the Art Gallery of Western Australia since 1896.
Partyka then appeared to glue her hand to the wall next to the $3 million (US$2.07 million) painting.
“Woodside likes to put their logo on everything while spraying their toxic emissions all over sacred petroglyphs,” she said.
“We need to put more industry on the Burrup or soon there will be no more art.”
Her fellow activist, Desmond Blurton, a Ballardong Noongar man, placed an Aboriginal flag on the floor of the gallery in front of the colonial-era oil painting.
“This painting is barely 100 years old,” he said, pointing to McCubbin’s work.
“We have 50,000 year old works of art that Woodside is destroying. Cultural works of art that are sacred to our people are being destroyed.”
The Disrupt Burrup Hub is calling on Woodside to halt development of the Burrup Peninsula, about 30 kilometers west of Karratha in the northwestern Pilbara region, a mining-rich area of Western Australia.
Burrup contains thousands of petroglyphs of indigenous peoples.
The incident follows a spate of similar stunts around the world, with climate activists vandalizing famous works of art.
On October 27, 2022, a man apparently tried to glue his head to Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands, while another man taped his own hand to the wall next to the painting .
The two Belgian demonstrators, who wore Just Stop Oil T-shirts during the incident, have both been sentenced to two months in prison, according to ARTnews.
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Activist charged by police
In response to the vandalism, the Art Gallery of Western Australia said the painting was protected by an acrylic covering and would not be damaged.
The Gallery also confirmed that a protester glued himself to the wall.
“The protester has been removed from the stands and the matter is now with WA police,” the Gallery said in a statement obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
WA police later confirmed that Partyka had been arrested and charged with criminal damage.
“A protester was in the gallery, where it is believed she damaged a painting and glued her hand to a wall,” a police spokesman said in commentary obtained by AAP.
“A second demonstrator, who was accompanied by the woman, left the stands at the request of security and before the police arrived.”
Woodside Energy maintains its environmental record
Woodside Energy said it respected individuals’ rights to protest and outlined its environmental credentials.
“Woodside has a proven track record of more than 35 years of safe, reliable and sustainable operations on Murujuga, providing natural gas to customers in WA and around the world,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“Our environmental approach complies with all applicable environmental laws and regulations and is backed by robust, science-based decisions.”
The company added that peer-reviewed research has shown no impact on Murujuga petroglyphs from emissions related to liquefied natural gas production.
Woodside is one of Australia’s largest independent energy companies and has operated the Karratha Gasworks at Burrup for over 30 years, while holding a majority share in the neighboring Pluto Gasworks, which is about to expand.
Indigenous leader Warren Mundine, who is also heavily involved in the arts, said the two individuals should have used the proper channels.
“If all you do is ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,’ then all you get is a lot of people without teeth and eyes. We have to live by the rules of the law,” he told The Epoch Times.
“There are laws regarding heritage and art; they should have. You can’t walk around like vigilantes and destroy things.”
Through Daniel Y. Teng
Daniel Y. Teng is based in Sydney. He focuses on national affairs, including federal politics, COVID-19 response and Australia-China relations.
