A street artist sues the Vatican for allegedly stealing her Jesus Christ artwork
Hearing about stolen artworks is old news, but not when the one accused of the act is the Vatican. A street artist named Alessia Babrow was shocked when she discovered that the Vatican used her artwork as a postage stamp during Easter 2020.
Babrow filed a lawsuit against the Vatican City State’s telecommunications office in a Rome court last April for profiting off her artwork and violating its original intent, as per CBS17. She was seeking about 130,000 euros in damages or approximately PHP 7,664,800.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, Babrow showed the image in question on a bridge near the Vatican. She shared, ‘I couldn’t believe it. I honestly thought it was a joke… The real shock was that you don’t expect certain things from certain organizations.’
The artwork was a printed photo of Christ with Barbrow’s telltale tag, showing an image of a human heart with the words “Just Use It” written over it. Her scripted initials can also be seen inside the heart.
Babrow’s “Just Use It” project started in 2013. She has been placing matching hearts on various religious figures that can be seen in different public areas around Rome. The project’s concept aims to “promote the intelligence and the brain of the heart” in a holistic and non-judgmental manner.
The Vatican is home to prominent artworks and implements its copyright on everything from the Sistine Chapen to Michelangelo’s Renaissance sculpture. Copyright lawyers who are well-versed in this type of cases say that guerilla art, a.k.a. street art, also deserves protection against unauthorized merchandising, as per ABC News.
A registered letter and an email were sent to the Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office by Barbrow’s lawyers, but there was no written reply regarding her request to settle the terms of use. This urged the artist to bring action against them.
‘I thought they were acting in good faith, that it was true they were looking for me, like had been written in the papers,’ Barbrow said to the Associated Press. ‘Only it seems it wasn’t that way because they never wanted to meet with me.’
Babrow clarified that filing a lawsuit was her way of protecting her rights, and it’s nothing against the Catholic Church or the Vatican.
The Vatican stamp office chief Massimo Olivieri and the Vatican press office declined to comment on Babrow’s efforts to negotiate a settlement for using her artwork without her knowledge.
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Source: we the pvblic
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