By Charlotte Van Campenhout
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -French artist James Colomina has installed a drowning life-size red figure floating facedown in an Amsterdam canal and holding a flag reading “I’m fine” to protest global climate change policy.
A second of Colomina’s typical red artworks is of a child hanging from the side of the canal and painting a waterline far above the present level.
Amsterdam lies below sea level, like about a third of the Netherlands, which is kept dry by an extensive system of dikes, canals and pumps.
“(Climate change) is an absolute emergency. Climate transcends all borders, all beliefs, all opinions,” Colomina said about the installations. “We’re no longer talking about politics, but about survival. Through my work, I try to remind people of this urgency.”
When Canadian tourist Daniel Lawless, 64, first saw the “I’m fine” artwork, he thought it showed a drunk Dutchman. Realizing it’s about climate change, he said it gave the work a whole new meaning.
“Now when you look at it, the fact that it’s about climate change, it’s sort of like, wow, how serious is it? We really do have to look at it and put our thoughts to it,” he said.
Colomina’s red statues have appeared worldwide, from U.S. President Donald Trump emerging from a manhole in New York to Russian President Vladimir Putin riding a toy tank in Central Park, as well as peace statues in Ukraine and Spain.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout Hilde Verweij, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Comments