Activists are doing their best to draw the world's attention to the climate crisis. Rising temperatures, wildfires, floods and melting glaciers – it all happens before our eyes. Protesters around the world often go to drastic lengths to convince the public that action must be taken and that the crisis can no longer be ignored.

On Tuesday 29 August, a 28-year-old member of the On2Ottawa group appeared at the National Gallery of Canada. The man smeared one of the paintings with pink paint before sticking himself to the floor and delivering a pre-written speech.

Canada has been facing massive and devastating forest fires for weeks. Kaleb Suedfeld's protest was intended to draw attention to the needs of the national firefighting service. The man wanted the public to remember that firefighters are doing everything possible to save as many forests and animals as possible from the spreading fire.

The activist spilled paint on Tom Thomson's 1915 artwork titled "Northern River". A group to which the 28-year-old activist belongs shared a video of the incident on social media. Following the attempted destruction of the painting, Kaleb gave a speech in which he recalled the deaths of firefighters, the evacuation of people from fire-prone areas and how much land had been destroyed by the calamity.

"Fossil fuel industries are destroying the work of art that is our planet and our government is firmly in their grip, doing nothing to stop their crimes. We are shocked that the governments around the world, including our own, are allowing our beautiful planet, this work of art, to be gutted and burned to fuel the pockets of fossil fuel plutocrats," said Kaleb after gluing himself to the floor.

"We are ordinary Canadians stepping into nonviolent civil disobedience to get urgent government action on the climate crisis, starting with the formation of a permanent, professional national firefighting agency sized to meet the enormity of the crisis," reads the On2Ottawa group's official website.

Activists belonging to On2Ottawa draw attention to the problem Canada faces daily. They don't like the way the government deals the fires that devastate their beautiful country. Speaking to ARTnews, the organisation's spokesperson Laura Sullivan stressed that the group's actions are peaceful and not aimed at destroying cultural works. She said that Kaleb Suedfeld knew that Tom Thomson's painting was behind glass and that the paint he used is washable.

A statement was also issued by the National Gallery of Canada which called this form of protest "unfortunate". It also reads that no damage was done to the artwork and that the activist was arrested by the police.

Source: artnews.com