Artists deface iconic Australian artwork to protest destruction of sacred Murujuga rock art by fossil fuel industry

Thursday 19 January 10.30AM AWST – Perth

Artists have spray painted iconic Australian painting ‘Down on His Luck’ with the Woodside logo in response to Woodside’s ongoing desecration of sacred Murujuga rock art at the Burrup Hub, Australia’s biggest new fossil fuel project. 

They are demanding no more industry on the Burrup. 

This action is the launch of the new direct action campaign ‘Disrupt Burrup Hub’ targeting Woodside.

At 10.30am Thursday AWST, Joana Partyka, a ceramic artist and illustrator from Perth, sprayed yellow paint on the colonial masterpiece at the Art Gallery of WA and then glued her hand to the wall of the gallery.

Ballardong Noongar man Desmond Blurton then unfurled an Aboriginal flag on the floor of the gallery and made an acknowledgement of Country.

Both artists explained that Woodside risks destroying culture and climate with toxic emissions from the Burrup Hub.

The artwork is protected by clear plastic sheeting and was not damaged in the protest.

Joana Partyka, a ceramic artist and illustrator from Perth, said during the protest:

“Toxic emissions from Woodside’s Burrup Hub are destroying the oldest, largest rock art gallery in the world. They are also destroying our climate and our world. The Burrup Hub will emit 6 billion tons of CO2 by 2070, 12 times Australia’s current annual emissions, and making international action to limit warming to safe levels impossible. We have seen record, unprecedented flooding in the Kimberley already this year, cutting access to WA’s most vulnerable communities. Incredible artists from this region are displayed in this gallery. Their home, the country they paint, is currently underwater. Woodside like to slap their logo on everything while they spray their toxic emissions all over sacred rock art. We must stop any more industry on the Burrup, or soon there will be no art left.”

Desmond Blurton, a Ballardong Noongar artist and cultural man, said during the protest:

“This is Bibbulmen boodja and I pay my respects to my elders and ancestors. Today, as I stand here, cultural artwork that is sacred to our people is being destroyed in Western Australia. Woodside’s Burrup Hub is the biggest fossil fuel project in Australia and is damaging sacred Murujuga rock art in the Pilbara. We must protect our artwork and our cultural heritage. We demand no more industry on the Burrup. This painting is barely 100 years old. Woodside is destroying 50,000 years of our culture.”

The Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia is known as Murujuga to traditional custodians, a deeply sacred place that contains the largest, oldest collection of Aboriginal rock art in the world. This priceless cultural treasure is currently nominated for UNESCO world heritage listing, but the sacred songlines and stories contained in these carvings are being damaged by emissions from the Burrup Hub and face total destruction within decades. 

Woodside's Burrup Hub is the biggest new fossil fuel project in Australia. It consists of the Scarborough and Browse Basin gas fields, the Pluto Project processing plant, and other linked liquified natural gas (LNG) and fertiliser plants on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s remote north-west Pilbara region. The Burrup Hub is projected to produce more than 6 billion tons of CO2 by 2070, making it four times larger than the Adani coal mine and one of the biggest carbon bombs in the world.

Police have been called. More to come…