Environmental campaign group Just Stop Oil has taken its protests to the British Museum, dressing a statue of a Greek goddess in an orange high vis jacket, and displaying a speech bubble beside it bearing the phrase “just stop famine”.
In a statement released on its website, the group says that at 10am today (25 October), two Just Stop Oil protestors placed a jacket on the life-sized marble statue of Demeter, which dates from 350BC-330BC. The British Museum has since confirmed that the statue was not damaged, and that the gallery has remained open to visitors.
A spokesperson told The Art Newspaper: “The British Museum respects other people’s right to express their views and allows peaceful protest onsite at the museum as long as there is no risk to the collection, staff or visitors. This incident clearly breached our visitor guidelines, and put objects at risk of harm.”
In its statement, Just Stop Oil demands that the UK work with others to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. The statement references a recent open letter, signed by 44 experts from 15 countries, warning of the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, known as Amoc, which brings warmth to the northern Atlantic—and the potentially “devastating” impact this would have on agriculture in parts of Europe.
A spokesperson for the group said: “Famine or a world without oil. What’s it to be? The climate crisis is threatening our food security and these impacts will only get worse until we stop burning fossil fuels.”
The statement also highlights the impact of the climate crisis on farming in England, and the onset of drought in Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, where the loss of crops and livestock has led to the declaration of a state of national disaster.
“If you think famine only happens elsewhere, think again,” the spokesperson continues. “Our rich nation status will not protect us from what is coming. A collapse in the Atlantic ocean currents would destroy our ability to grow food and you can’t eat money.”
The action is Just Stop Oil‘s latest in a string of protests at UK museums. Earlier this week (24 October) the group dressed a statue of The Beatles, located in the band’s home town of Liverpool, in the same vests, this time accompanied by speech bubbles that read “hey Jude, let’s just stop oil” and “imagine there’s no oil”.
Just Stop Oil protestors at the National Gallery in London on 18 October
Courtesy of Just Stop Oil
Meanwhile last week (18 October), three Just Stop Oil protestors unfurled a banner at the National Gallery in London’s exhibition Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers, in front of two of the artist’s Sunflowers paintings. The protestors were calling for the release of Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who were jailed in September after throwing soup at Sunflowers (1888)—located at that time in the National Gallery‘s permanent galleries—in October 2022.