A NEW mural depicting climate activist Greta Thunberg has appeared in Dublin.
The artwork, by Irish artist Emma Blake, depicts the young activist from her now-famous speech at the United Nations, where she condemned the lack of action from world leaders in tackling the climate emergency.
"The world is waking up, and change is coming," a speech bubble reads as a furious Thunberg is shown with planet earth circling her head-- a clear parallel to a halo shown in religious artworks.
RTÉ News interviewed the artist behind the mural, which can be found on Chancery Street.
"The biggest thing that was in the news before the pandemic was the environment and climate change," artist Emma Blake told RTÉ.
"It was all about deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, wildfires in Australia and all the damage that climate change is doing.
A large mural of Greta Thunberg has been painted on a wall in Dublin City centre. Artist Emma Blake said she hoped it refocuses attention on the fight against climate change 🌎 pic.twitter.com/gG0j3grE9j
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 2, 2021
The Covid-19 pandemic means the climate emergency has taken a back seat in the news, Ms Blake added, but when the battle with Covid is over "we are still going to have to face this huge issue, the biggest that humanity has had to face."
She said that Greta Thunberg was "inspirational", and that she was moved by the way the teenager had addressed the world about such an important issue at such a young age, but "climate change is not just the responsibility of young people. They inherited this problem."
"But at the same time, I do think young people need to be encouraged to get involved in climate activism if we are going to turn the tide."
Emma Blake's artwork has shone on the streets of Dublin multiple times in the past year, both before and during the pandemic.
In November 2019, a mural of Derry Girls character Sister Michael appeared on a wall in Dublin close to the recently closed Bernard Shaw pub, with the character shown raising her eyes to the heavens in her trademark exasperated style, with two speech bubbles stating "Another hotel? Christ".
Since then, Sinéad O'Connor, Cardi B and even Bernie Sanders have graced the walls of Dublin in the form of Blake's trademark murals.
You can follow Emma Blake's art on her Instagram page here.
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