The US city of San Francisco will soon have a giant likeness of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg overlooking its downtown, as Argentine muralist Andres Iglesias, who signs his art with the pseudonym Cobre, is expected to complete the mural project in the central Union Square neighbourhood by next week, SFGate reported.
Cobre had earlier painted a likeness of the late comedian Robin Williams that has since been demolished.
“Climate change is real,” Cobre told SFGate.
“This girl Greta is awesome and she knows what she’s doing. I hope with this mural people will realise we have to take care of the world.”
The non-profit environmental group One Atmosphere, which is supplying all the paint for the project, reportedly reached out to Cobre after developers had broken ground on a long-awaited rental building at 1028 Market street, signifying that the Robin Williams mural would soon disappear.
Cobre, coincidentally, was searching for a building for his next project.
It’s not the first time Nobel peace prize nominee Thurnberg has inspired street art.
Earlier this year, the UK-based aerosol artist Jody Thomas painted a 50-foot portrait of the teenager, who became the face of a vast, coordinated strike to protest against government inaction on the climate crisis, on the face of the historic Tobacco Factory in Bristol.
Fans of the activist took to social media applauding the project and everything the teen stands for:
Other Twitter users were not as enthusiastic, and took issue with the sue of paints for the mural:
Many netizens found the project ‘creepy’ and hardly something that would foster positive sentiment:
In September, climate activist Greta Thurnberg's demonstrations spanned an estimated 185 countries in one of the largest environmental protests in history.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!” Thunberg said, addressing the United Nations Climate Action Summit.
“My message is that we’ll be watching you,” said the teen activist, whose mural will now keep watch over San Francisco, acknowledged as a city embracing environmental mindfulness.
According to a Siemens Corp study, the city is the greenest in North America, and has been a leader in waste management, implemented legislation to encourage urban farming and espousing energy-awareness programmes.