Caroline Zilinsky is an artist from Sydney, Australia, whose work explores the “grotesque, absurd and tragic aspects of human nature through narrative imagery.”
Zilinsky, born in 1978, has been painting for several decades, and her art has been exhibited around the globe. She’s an enigmatic, obsessive and sharp-witted artist. Moreover, she is an avid believer in climate activism.
With the recent controversy regarding climate protesters and their damage to artistic masterpieces, most would expect the art world to hold fury. Iconic paintings such as Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ and John Constable’s ‘The Hay Wain’ have been targets of these statements, among others.
However, Zilinsky offered an interesting take on movements such as Just Stop Oil and the “bigger picture”, as she described it. At first glance, her heart shattered at the thought of these masterpieces facing damage. She said: “When I first saw the video of paint being thrown at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, my initial reaction was shock. I remember going to the National Gallery and crying in front of that painting.
“But when you look further, you think, well, there are security guards standing there protecting this painting, and if there’s no planet, then no one’s going to be viewing the painting.”
She continued: “You worship a painting of sunflowers, or you revere a painted sunset, but what about the real sunset that’s chocked with smog behind you? That’s what I saw in it. We tend to worship an image of something more than the actual thing itself.”
Zilinsky decided to make a statement by defacing her own painting, titled ‘This Is Not A Planet’. She made this bold move on 29 November at a public viewing at Nanda Hobbs Gallery in Sydney, Australia.
She explained her inspiration behind it as a homage to French surrealism artist René Magritte. Magritte’s seminal work in 1929, ‘The Treachery of Images’, depicted a pipe with the words in French, This Is Not A Pipe written below.
She said: “It was the idea that this was a painting of a pipe, but it’s not a pipe. So I painted the outline of a planet on top of a landscape, and I wrote, This Is Not A Planet because the painting is not a planet. The painting is a picture.
“This is just a destruction of a painting, but the bigger picture is the destruction of the planet, so I thought it tied in well.”
When asked about the disruption climate protesters are causing to the general public, she said: “People don’t want to be disrupted. People don’t want their traffic disrupted by young protesters. No one likes to be inconvenienced, but the inconvenience that will occur by inaction will be far greater than some people blocking a road. I think that’s the point they’re trying to make, that it can no longer be ignored.”
Zilinksy also expressed her disappointment towards those not supporting the fight for a better environment. She said: “It’s almost as though people think the problem is so big, why fix it? Let’s just potter about until the end of humanity. Let’s just go about our lives quietly until civilisation no longer exists. That’s what it feels like. We’re lulling our way towards armageddon.”
Earlier this year, eastern Australia faced the worst floods in the history of the nation. The series of floods occurred from February to April. The artist spoke on her country’s battle with climate change. She said: “We went from extreme drought and bushfires to almost half the country being flooded and whole towns now having to negotiate being moved.
“I think climate change was a very abstract concept for some people. In Australia, you can actually see the change. Even globally, there’s been floods everywhere. There have been floods in China, Pakistan, Germany, and many countries. So I think people see now more of what it’s going to look like to live.”
She explained how she believed most people “cushioned in a city” haven’t had to worry about climate change as much. She said: “I think until you really have it personally affect you, you don’t worry so much, and you just sort of go about blindly. But then once you see it occurring in your community and environment, it’s different.”
Zilinsky, who described herself as “all for protests”, emphasised the importance of speaking up for a cause you believe in. She said: “People forget that the power is in their hands and collectively they can make a big difference.”
She conveyed her melancholic thoughts on the planet’s future if more people did not strive for change. She said: “It’s such a unique gift to be alive, conscious and aware. To be able to observe and appreciate your environment. To be able to create art and all the things that are incredible about being a human being. It’ll be sad to see that all turn to dust.”
