Goodbye Greta, it’s been great Work set to begin removing mural
WORK has begun to replace the huge mural of climate change activist Greta Thunberg in Bristol.
The mural, which features the Swedish teenager up to her eyes in rising sea levels, has been on the side of the Tobacco Factory in Ashton Gate since May 2019.
Greta even used it as her profile picture on her social media accounts for some time, although she didn’t get the chance to see it in person when she visited Bristol to lead a school strike for climate in February 2020.
As part of the Upfest street art festival, which is based in North Street, the landmark walls like the side of the Tobacco Factory are regularly repainted every one or two years.
Previous works have included a colourful portrait of John Lennon and, most recently in 2018, an image of Lisa Simpson with a megaphone when Upfest had a Simpsons theme.
The Greta mural lasted more than two years because of the coronavirus pandemic, which postponed last year’s Upfest.
This year’s festival, initially delayed until August, has now been cancelled as well, but a huge project to paint 77 walls in 77 days is almost completed – so instead of all the street art changing in Ashton, Southville and Bedminster in just one weekend, it’s taking place over the course of more than three months.
The Greta artwork was the biggest piece done to date by Bristolian street artist Jody Thomas, who said he wanted to highlight the impending nightmare of climate change.
He said he was pleased when Greta used the image as her Insta profile pic.
Yesterday, the wall was fenced off and a cherry picker was in place to assist in the job of painting over the Greta Thunberg mural in preparation for something new to be painted there.
There is no confirmation of what will replace that now iconic image of Greta Thunberg, but it’s likely to be stunning.
Greek artist Insane 51 is the street artist with the job of following Jody’s Greta, and he is already well known to Upfest and Bristol’s street art fans.
He is the genius behind an innovative work of art that adorned the side of the Ashton Plate cafe, just round the corner from Greta in the Aldi car park, on the corner of Baynton Road and Ashton Road.
His work featured a two-tone red and green image of a woman which, when viewed through the different lenses of 3D glasses showed either her skeleton or her head and hands.
The Post understands the artist has been in quarantine in Bristol since arriving from Greece early last week, and is now ready to tackle the huge wall that faces the Aldi store on North Street in the coming days.