Accidental Heroes

‘Accidental Heroes’ is a comment on the UK Government’s senseless reaction to non-violent direct action in this country. These imagined scenarios depict rabbits, who look more like cute toys than wild animals, accidentally or on purpose damaging weaponry belonging to the US military stationed in England.

These paintings were made on cardboard, which is inspired by the cardboard handwritten signs deployed by the thousands of citizens who have been arrested for peacefully supporting Palestine Action, a UK-founded group currently proscribed by the Government.

In one scene, the rabbits have discovered a discarded spray paint can – but are they responsible for directing it at the fighter jet? Another scene shows them inspecting a nuclear bomb loaded onto a jet, having apparently dislodged the weapon cone and punctured a tyre. The viewer is left to decide whether the rabbits are naive wildlife behaving normally in their habitat, or if they are intentionally sabotaging weapons of mass destruction.

Cobbin painted these pieces in response to how British anti-war activists, who damage military weaponry to prevent mass civilian casualties and genocide, are classed and prosecuted as ‘terrorists’ by the Government.