Artist Darren Cullen, Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives, entered the ZAP Games 2023 Sculpture category with a submission from Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
In Darren’s words, he “bought an old mini-bus and converted it into a fake Shell corporate vehicle with subvertised ads either side and a ‘Hell’ sign on the roof. Banners can be added to the top of the bus for protests and events, and the bus will be used by local climate activists who are trying to get Shell out of the Niger Delta”.
The ZAP Games opens up a debate around our right to public space and the huge consequences of advertising for health, wellbeing, extreme levels of waste and environmental pollution. Advertising also helps to distract and delay from climate action through greenwashing.
Shell PLC, now a UK-based company, is a top spender on advertising and has been rapped multiple times in multiple countries for misleading greenwashing, i.e., “green” advertising that distracts and covers up Shell’s horrendous, large-scale environmental pollution and human rights abuses.
In the Niger Delta, Shell’s repeated spills and gas flaring have led to a hugely lowered life expectancy of just 41 years for local people. Shell’s operations have led to the region being one of the most polluted areas on the planet. In response, Darren Cullen has brought the Niger Delta Hell Bus to criticise Shell’s greenwashing and support local activism against Shell’s presence in Nigeria. Read more and contribute to the Bus on Darren Cullen’s website.
Action category: Sculpture
