Two Just Stop Oil activists, Emily Brocklebank, 24, and Louis McKechnie, 22 have been found guilty of causing criminal damage after they glued themselves to the frame of a Vincent van Gogh painting at a London art gallery.
According to reports, the activists caused just under £2,000 of damage at the Courtauld Gallery when they attached themselves to the 1889 work Peach Trees in Blossom.
While Brocklebank, a student from Yeadon, Leeds, received a 21-day sentence and suspension for six months, which is still subject to an electronically monitored six-week curfew, McKechnie was jailed for three weeks.
District Judge Neeta Minhas told the Westminster magistrate’s court that the activists had permanently damaged the 18th-century frame, which is older than the painting itself.
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“It is not in a state where it can return to its original state,” she added as she delivered her verdict. “The painting has significant, historical and artistic value and I consider the damage substantial. It is not minor, insignificant, temporary or trivial.”
Francesca Cociani, a lawyer for the activists, who are among a group that has pledged to keep protesting until the government agrees to halt all new oil and gas projects, had asked a curator for the gallery if the action may have increased the value of the painting.
“Say the institute was to sell it on in 20 to 30 years, is it possible its value would now increase?” Cociani asked Karen Serres, a curator at the gallery.
Serres, who was the sole witness in the trial, replied: “Absolutely not,” adding that a work so famous as one by Van Gogh would not increase in value as a result. She further stated that such works, which were owned by a trust which held items displayed at the gallery, could also not be sold and were intended for public display.
During the trial, CCTV footage was played to the court showing the activists walking into the building at about 3.30 pm on 30 June after buying tickets for an exhibition, after which they then took off their jackets to reveal orange Stop Oil T-shirts and attached themselves to the artwork.
McKechnie had told the court earlier: “When it comes to protesting, just speaking does not get a platform. By glueing, it gives a story which the media chooses to follow.” “I didn’t think I would cause much damage. The glue comes off.”
She said that the painting’s owner would have “consented” to the protest, adding: “Any good human would agree with trying to sustain life on Earth.”
Prosecuting, Jonathan Bryan said that the defendants had claimed they were expressing their rights, under the European convention, to freedom of expression and of assembly, but he added that these were qualified rights rather than absolute ones.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
