A NEW mural in Dublin depicting climate activist Greta Thunberg has been vandalised just 24 hours after it was completed.
The artwork, by Irish artist Emma Blake, depicts the young activist from her now-famous speech at the United Nations, where she condemned the lack of action from world leaders in tackling the climate emergency.
It was completed yesterday and featured on RTÉ News, but now, less than a day after it appeared on Chancery Street, it has been vandalised with paint and vile slogans.
The young activist's face has been daubed over with paint, and misogynistic and abusive language has been scrawled over the artwork.
An image of the vandalised mural was uplkoaded to Twitter by Irish MEP Ciarán Cuffe, who said it was "sad to see this amazing mural of Greta Thunberg ... vandalised so quickly.
He added "Hopefully it can be repainted."
Sad to see this amazing mural of Greta Thunberg by @emmaleneblake vandalised so quickly. Hopefully it can be repainted. https://t.co/6U5k6soSIG pic.twitter.com/HHImqENg7O
— Ciarán Cuffe (@CiaranCuffe) March 3, 2021
Trolls had commented under RTÉ's initial piece on the mural urging people to vandalise the piece as soon as it had been completed, and it took just 24 hours for this to happen.
The artist behind the mural, Emma Blake, had told RTÉ News that she was inspired to create the mural as "the biggest thing that was in the news before the pandemic was the environment and climate change".
The Covid-19 pandemic means the climate emergency has taken a back seat in the news, Ms Blake added, but when the battle with Covid is over "we are still going to have to face this huge issue, the biggest that humanity has had to face."
A large mural of Greta Thunberg has been painted on a wall in Dublin City centre. Artist Emma Blake said she hoped it refocuses attention on the fight against climate change 🌎 pic.twitter.com/gG0j3grE9j
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 2, 2021
Emma Blake's artwork has shone on the streets of Dublin multiple times in the past year, both before and during the pandemic.
In November 2019, a mural of Derry Girls character Sister Michael appeared on a wall in Dublin close to the recently closed Bernard Shaw pub, with the character shown raising her eyes to the heavens in her trademark exasperated style, with two speech bubbles stating "Another hotel? Christ".
Since then, Sinéad O'Connor, Cardi B and even Bernie Sanders have graced the walls of Dublin in the form of Blake's trademark murals.
You can follow Emma Blake's art on her Instagram page here.
