A four-story mural of climate activist Greta Thunberg is set to be unveiled next week in San Francisco. Many, however, have already found the work unsettling, describing it as something straight out of a dystopian Sci-Fi movie.
The mural depicts the face of the 16-year-old media darling, gazing down at passersby on Union Square in San Francisco, with her signature tense expression.
Argentine artist Andreas Iglesias, who is putting the finishing touches on the massive work, said his ultimate goal is to raise awareness about climate issues.
“What I want from people is to realize [they] have to do something for the world. Otherwise, it’s going to be the beginning of our extinction,” the muralist, also known as Cobre, told KPIX.
The project is sponsored by One Atmosphere, an environmental non-profit which supplied paint for the mural. Its executive director, Paul Scott, said he hopes people will be “struck” by the sight and “open their minds to the remarkable conviction” in the teen’s words.
While the towering mural is a sight that is guaranteed to turn heads, the concept has left many puzzled, with some even calling it disturbing.
“You never want that stare,” a commenter wrote, while another said: “I bet property prices have plummeted around there. That is scary.”
Others slammed the premise behind the work, arguing that the mural will do nothing to solve the problems that have been plaguing the city for years, such as its homelessness crisis and trash-strewn streets.
Some drew parallels between the way Thunberg is now worshipped in the ‘free world’ and propaganda campaigns befitting Chairman Mao, more in line with George Orwell’s dystopian novels than with modern America.
“There’s something about that girl that gives me the creeps......That mural and those eyes is something straight out of a dystopian SciFy movie,” one wrote, commenting on the SFist story.
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