5 screenshots of 9 tweets from Madeline Odent, Twitter username @ oldenoughtosay
Tweet one says: âFrom an art conservation perspective, itâs 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/nâ. 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: âBronze 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/nâ
Tweet three says: âWhat 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 âactivateâ in contact with polar solvents (inc water) (and are often found in conjunction of them, like passata) 3/nâ
Tweet four says: âOnce the chlorides have come in contact with the metal, they âstickâ and âspreadâ, we used to think bronze disease was caused by bacteria because itâll spread from one part of an affected artefact to the whole thing and also anything touching it. 4/nâ
Tweet five says: âNow, itâs extremely difficult to remove the chlorides once theyâre on! It can be done, but the chemical needed is super carcinogenic, so, it rarely is. So, conservators usually âpauseâ the disease by removing either moisture or oxygen using specialized storage. 5/nâ
Tweet six says: âOf course, the artefact canât 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/nâ
Tweet seven says: âAnd this isnât a âprettyâ deterioration either. The metal starts flaking off in this gross white fungus type thing- youâve seen old coins dug up in a garden? Like that. I canât think of any person with a memorial plaque on the wall of a building that deserves that. 7/nâ
Tweet eight says: âAnd of course, once the damage is done, it can be paused or stopped, but it CANâT be reversed. In 150 years, we havenât found a way to restore artefacts that this happens to. Which is a shame since we all immediately forget history when statues are destroyed 8/8â
Tweet nine says âYâall can stop DMing the museum to complain about me, like a) my boss thinks Iâm funny, b) she also supports BLM, and c) Iâm the one reading the DMs.â
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