Last week, over 40 artists came together for Australia's largest unsanctioned outdoor art campaign spread across three cities. 78 advertisements around Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane have been replaced with bespoke thought-provoking images and messages under the slogan #BushfireBrandalism. Speaking to the current climate crisis, this undertaking speaks directly to the feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness experienced nationwide in recent weeks.
Original designs focus on a range of subjects including the fossil fuel industry, bravery of the local firefighters and destruction of the country's unique flora and fauna. With a combined 700,000 social media following, these artists hope to raise awareness of the underlying causes of this abnormal fire season and the actions needed to prevent and control it in the future. The work installed on local bus stops and similar advertising spaces promotes direct access to relevant information and over 30 charities combating the issue via QR code.
Beyond the bushfires, the intervention speaks more broadly to the use of conventional advertising space in Australia. With one entity controlling 59% of all daily newspaper sales, artists question the position of Australia's media and its coverage of issues concerning climate change. "We do not accept that this situation is ‘business as usual’. We are making these issues visible in our public spaces and in our media; areas monopolized by entities maintaining conservative climate denial agendas. If the newspapers won’t print the story, we will!”
Artists include Georgia Hill, Tom Gerrard, Sarah McCloskey, Amok Island, Andrew J Steel, Blends, Callum Preston, Cam Scale, Damien Mitchell, Dani Hair, DVATE, E.L.K, Ed Whitfield, FIKARIS, Fintan Magee, HEESCO, JESWRI, Ghostpatrol, Leans, Lluis fuzzhound, Lotte Smith, Lucy Lucy, Makatron, Michael Langenegger, Peter Breen, The Workers Art Collective, Stanislava Pinchuk, The Lazy Edwin, Thomas Bell, Tom Civil, WordPlay Studio, Peter Breen.
