Can art help raise awareness about the climate emergency? This is a question that many artists have asked themselves and many have taken to the streets. Last St. Patrick's Day, March 17, London woke up with a new tree in its streets. Nobody planted it, it didn't even sprout from the ground, someone painted it. North of the British capital, in the neighborhood of Islington, people gather in front of a robust pruned and almost mutilated cherry tree. In front of it, numerous arms are raised to take the best photograph that immortalizes this tree on Instagram or Tiktok.
Banksy in London.
Banksy
By taking distance, the 'naked' cherry tree takes on color. She takes it from the wall behind him and Banksy's 'activist' brushstrokes. The urban artist claimed authorship on his Instagram profile. A green 'smudge' on a white canvas gives life to this cherry tree with more than 5 decades in its branches and trunks. “The message is clear: nature is fighting and it is up to us to help it grow again,” he told the BBC after seeing the James Peak mural, which he created for the British channel 'The Banksy Story'.
It is not the first time that this artist has painted for the environment. In 2010, this author denounced in a mural in Detroit (United States) the advance of cities at the expense of green spaces. Banksy used three elements: a child, a red brush and a phrase. This is the mural that was named “I remember when all these were trees” and that ended up being auctioned for almost 140,000 euros.
Also in Spain
But the works of the British artist are not the only complaint against the climate crisis. Works that cry out against inaction in the face of global warming also appear in the Iberian Peninsula. “The world is going down the drain” or “Nature first” are two urban paintings found in the streets of Santander, the first, and Olot in Girona, the second. The signature is not that of Banksy, but of Pejac. A man from Santander named Silvestre Santiago whose works range from drawing, painting, sculpture and graffiti. And the themes always have a social component and critical features.
“The world is going down the drain.”
Pejac
Cities and their streets are the main rooms chosen by these urban artists. Christian Rebecchi and Pablo Togni did the same, whose pieces seek to stir consciences and call for action in defense of the environment.
They also sneak into art galleries and exhibition displays. In 2013, The Weather Project 'sneaked' into the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London. With this exhibition, the Danish Olafur Eliasson tried to convey to visitors something similar to what the inhabitants of the near future will feel if the increase in the planet's temperatures is not slowed down. Four years later, the American Lars Jan amazed visitors at Art Basel Miami Beach, a contemporary art fair, which recreated the famous Miami under the sea as a result of climate change.
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