Activists Cover Picasso’s ‘Motherhood’ Painting with Image of Gazan Mother and Child

This morning, two activists pasted a photograph of a Palestinian mother and child over the protective glass of Pablo Picasso’s 1901 painting Motherhood (La Maternité) at the National Gallery in London, in a bid for attention to the dangers faced by families in Gaza.

After pasting the image, Jai Halai, a 23-year-old employee at the National Health Service, and Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, a 21-year-old student, poured red paint on the gallery floor before their arrest. A video posted to the Youth Demand X page captures Rosenfeld seated in front of the faux-blood splatter, saying to a crowd of onlookers, “All of your taxes are used being used to kill entire families in Gaza. They say this is in the Jewish name, but this has nothing to do with us.”

The museum confirmed to Art Review that no damage was caused to any other artwork in the room. (The National Gallery did not immediately reply to ARTnews’s request for comment.)

Halai and Rosenfeld are members of Youth Demand, a student branch of Just Stop Oil, the climate change–focused group that have staged headline-grabbing demonstrations at art institutions across the UK over the past several years. Their signature tactics target famous artworks—hurling soup, gluing themselves to frames—to draw attention to their causes; these actions do not leave lasting damage to the pieces themselves.

In a video posted to Youth Demand’s Instagram page, a security guard is seen ripping the photograph off the glass. The activists are then pulled by their arms and shirts by security away from the painting and detained. Halai speaks into the camera while pressed against the wall of the gallery.

“The UK government is complicit in genocide,” Halai said. “Children are dying in Gaza. They are being operated on without anesthetic. Women are giving birth without any medical attention. Our government is complicit. 87 percent of the public support an arms embargo in Israel, yet the government continues to provide arms.”

Youth Demand has called for a two-way arms embargo on Israel and for the UK government to end all oil and gas licenses granted since 2021. A statement from the group posted to its social media channels said to expect more disruptions in other cities from November 11.  

Israel’s military assault on Gaza hit its one-year mark this week, marked by peaceful protests held in cities around the world. In April, the United Nations reported that more than 10,000 women have been killed in Gaza, including an estimated 6,000 mothers, leaving 19,000 children orphaned. Additionally, over one million Palestinian women and girls in Gaza have limited access to food or drinkable water, resulting in a rise of disease “amidst inhumane living conditions.”

“Women who have survived Israeli bombardment and ground operations have been displaced, widowed, and facing starvation,” the report stated. “This devastating differentiated impact continues to make the war on Gaza also a war on women.”