5 screenshots of 9 tweets from Madeline Odent, Twitter username @ oldenoughtosay
Tweet one says: “From an art conservation perspective, it’s honesty fine to throw paint on memorials of genocidal racists! Paint is pretty easy to clean off. What would be an absolute SHAME is if people were to throw certain common HOUSEHOLD ITEMS that can cause IRREVERSIBLE BRONZE DISEASE 1/n”. Attached to this tweet is a photo of a vandalized bronze statue with a red and white sack over its head with unreadable blue text.
Tweet two says: “Bronze disease happens when a copper alloyed artefact (for example most metal busts, plinths, and plaques, particularly Victorian era artefacts) comes in contact with chlorides, water and oxygen. It causes irreversible damage and is impossible to stop! 2/n”
Tweet three says: “What are chlorides? Well, google it, but suffice to be said, they can be found in household salt, seawater, and a few good products like tomatoes. They ‘activate’ in contact with polar solvents (inc water) (and are often found in conjunction of them, like passata) 3/n”
Tweet four says: “Once the chlorides have come in contact with the metal, they ‘stick’ and ‘spread’, we used to think bronze disease was caused by bacteria because it’ll spread from one part of an affected artefact to the whole thing and also anything touching it. 4/n”
Tweet five says: “Now, it’s extremely difficult to remove the chlorides once they’re on! It can be done, but the chemical needed is super carcinogenic, so, it rarely is. So, conservators usually ‘pause’ the disease by removing either moisture or oxygen using specialized storage. 5/n”
Tweet six says: “Of course, the artefact can’t really be on display, which is an absolute shame. Because, like, idk, if someone were to throw a ton of tomatoes at a bust of a genocidal racist, nobody would probably notice the chemical reaction until it was too late to save the artefact. 6/n”
Tweet seven says: “And this isn’t a ‘pretty’ deterioration either. The metal starts flaking off in this gross white fungus type thing- you’ve seen old coins dug up in a garden? Like that. I can’t think of any person with a memorial plaque on the wall of a building that deserves that. 7/n”
Tweet eight says: “And of course, once the damage is done, it can be paused or stopped, but it CAN’T be reversed. In 150 years, we haven’t found a way to restore artefacts that this happens to. Which is a shame since we all immediately forget history when statues are destroyed 8/8”
Tweet nine says “Y’all can stop DMing the museum to complain about me, like a) my boss thinks I’m funny, b) she also supports BLM, and c) I’m the one reading the DMs.”
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