Greenpeace Australia Pacific has unveiled a large-scale, custom painted mural in Perth, a gift from the community for fossil fuel giant Woodside.
© Jed Lyall
Greenpeace commissioned the 200m2 mural on Saint Georges Terrace, Perth, just 1.5 kilometres from Woodside’s headquarters.
The mural – curated by Perth & London based street art collective Blank Walls – shows a vibrant underwater scene, the Greenpeace flagship vessel the Rainbow Warrior displaying a “Whales not Woodside” banner, and protesters at a recent paddle-out in Fremantle against Woodside.
It comes during Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s tour along the Western Australian coastline, and following wide-scale community and media interest in the Rainbow Warrior’s arrival in Fremantle last month.
Greenpeace Head of Clean Energy Transition Jess Panegyres said the work sends a message to Woodside it can’t ignore.
“The West Australian community love our oceans and marine life, and we want Woodside to know we won’t stand for their polluting gas expansion plans for the Burrup Hub,” she said.
“Last month, thousands of people turned out to visit the Rainbow Warrior in Fremantle and Albany. Dozens of people from grassroots organisations protested at Woodside’s Annual General Meeting. The WA community has been loud and clear with Woodside: new gas has no place in a healthy future for Western Australia and our oceans.
“This piece is an expression of our love for WA’s oceans, and our grave concerns for Woodside’s proposed projects. It’s right on Woodside’s doorstep – a hard to ignore location.”
More than 40 members of the public placed handprints on the piece following a community call-out to contribute.
Will Clark from Blank Walls said public art is a powerful tool to spark change.
“This mural demonstrates the power art has to bring together a collective voice and unite communities, while also creating conversations around the very important topic of climate action, something that affects every human being on earth” he said.
“We’re proud of the artists we work with, and the murals we’re capable of painting for our clients to deliver their message. A special part of this one was the community engagement factor. We had people from all walks of life place their handprints on the bottom of the wall.”
Artists Michael Betts, Sam Brooks & Blake Poole painted the mural in just over two weeks.
