CLIMATE ACTIVIST GRETA THUNBERG is back in the news but not in a manner that she is enjoying. According to the article “Trolls Force Artist to Cancel a Planned Greta Thunberg Mural in North Dakota” by Yessenia Funes for Gizmodo (February 13, 2020), local artist/photographer Shane Balkowitsch took portraits of Thunberg in October 2019 when she was visiting members of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
“Balkowitsch uses a specific method of photography: wet plate collodion. This is a complicated process that dates back more than 170 years and is a dying art form. The artist had hoped to share the image—whose original plate now sits in the Library of Congress where Balkowitsch expects it to last for generations—on the wall of an alleyway in Bismarck. A 7-foot tall mural was set to cover the wall of the Brick Oven Bakery, but when media covered the artist’s proposal, locals kinda bugged out.
Facebook commenters began attacking Thunberg and her activism against the fossil fuel industry, which has a long history in North Dakota. Some commenters noted they’d rather have someone from their state adorn the downtown wall, but others went as far as to promise to boycott or badmouth the bakery. Balkowitsch was not expecting this backlash, but some lunatics really fucking hate this teen, man. It’s pretty sad to see grown-ass adults bashing a teen who is, uh, literally fighting for the right to a livable future.”
To read this article in its entirety, click HERE.
FEATURED IMAGE: The photo at the top of this page was cropped from the original portrait above. Using the wet-plate collodion photography, Shane Balkowitsch has captured Greta Thunberg as she might have appeared had she been photographed in 1880 rather than in 2020.
