Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg is soon going to have a giant mural of hers on Mason Street near Union Square in San Francisco, SF Gate reported. Argentine muralist Andres Iglesias is set to finish his work on the mural which shows the teen activist staring down at people by Tuesday (November 12). The bay area has had murals of famous personalities like actor Robin Williams and rapper Nipsey Hussle and now the 16-year-old Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Thunberg will also have her name added to the formidable list.
Iglesias, who signs his artwork with the pseudonym Cobre, told SF Gate, “Climate change is real. This girl Greta is awesome and she knows what she’s doing. I hope with this mural people will realize we have to take care of the world.” He also painted the mural of Williams which has been demolished. Iglesias was searching for a building in the bay area to create a mural when environmental non-profit organisation One Atmosphere reached out to him. The organization has provided Iglesias with all the paints required for Thunberg's mural.
When Williams' mural was being demolished, Paul Scott, executive director of One Atmosphere approached Iglesias. He believed that Iglesias would be ideal to make the first in the line of the many murals and artworks of climate change activists.
“Greta is having profound effects on the environmental movement right now,” Scott said. “We’re hoping the mural is going to touch people and that it will open up their hearts and minds to the unbridled conviction of Greta’s message.”
Iglesias hopes that a band will play at the unveiling ceremony of Thunberg's mural, while she may not be aware of it at all.
Scott is also looking for other buildings to come on board the idea of having murals on them. "We’re hoping to have other building owners who like this idea and support our objectives and want to have something similar on their buildings. We’d love to hear from them,” he said.
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“Thunberg is a bright light in a dark time and we hope people will follow her lead and make some changes,” he further added.
Meanwhile, the activist is in the US travelling through the Southern states to get to the east coast and "hopefully find a transport to COP25 in Madrid" for the United Nations Climate Change Conference next month, she tweeted.
Thunberg travelled halfway around the world to attend the U.N. climate talks (COP25) in Santiago, Chile but the organizers changed the location from Santiago to Madrid at the last moment and now Thunberg is finding it difficult to get to Madrid to attend the meet. She boycotts air travel because of its outsized carbon footprint impacting the climate disastrously. She normally travels by zero-emission sailboats.
“Climate change is real. This girl Greta is awesome and she knows what she’s doing. I hope with this mural people will realize we have to take care of the world.”
Earlier in June this year, another mural of Thunberg depicting her to be submerged in icy cold water was unveiled in Bristol. Artist Jody Thomas created the artwork in 15 days and it stretches the entire height of the Tobacco Factory’s 15-metre tall building, Independent reported.
“She’s very much in the limelight, very current, very contemporary and she’s obviously clearly leading a very, very important issue which affects all of us on the planet,” Thomas told Huffington Post, adding, “She has a very fearless style, tells it exactly how it is and lets everyone have it with both barrels.”
The activist's climate strike campaign has garnered global recognition prompting millions of people to join her in her cause and organize climate strikes across the world.
Picture credit- AP News
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