Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old who has become an international advocate for saving the planet, is the literal face of a new mural going up in San Francisco, California. Argentinian muralist Andrés Petreselli, who signs his work as Cobre, is painting the large mural, which comes in at 60-ft.-tall and 30-ft.-wide, entirely for free. He told SFGate in an interview, “Climate change is real. This girl Greta is awesome and she knows what she's doing. I hope with this mural people will realize we have to take care of the world.”
The mural, which is going up in Union Square, in central San Francisco, depicts the teenage environmental advocate looking down at people on the street. Some on Twitter have compared the mural to everyone from Vladimir Putin to Wednesday Adams. “If 95% people are going to like it, then my job is well done,” the artist told TIME, noting he’s already received negative feedback on his Instagram. “Haters gonna hate.”
Thunberg’s expressions—and words—have a big impact. You might remember her from when she made international news by sailing (as opposed to flying) from the U.K. to New York to attend the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Or when she called out adults for their inaction on the climate crisis, saying in part, “I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean.”
Or even from the now-viral facial expression she made while, seemingly, looking in Donald Trump’s direction at the summit. More recently, she appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and, when asked about meeting with Trump to talk about climate change, said, "I don't understand why I would do that. I don't see what I could tell him that he hasn't already heard. And I just think it would be a waste of time, really."
The viral moments are great fun for the internet, but these fast-moving clips also work to reinforce her actual message, which is the climate crisis is real.
"If we can amplify her message and get more people involved and listening to what she's saying, then we're doing some good," Paul Scott, executive director of One Atmosphere, the climate advocacy nonprofit that’s funding the mural, told CNN. He told the news station he hopes more works of art celebrating climate activists will follow after Thunberg’s.
Hopefully, more works do come to fruition. Thunberg herself, notably, hasn’t expressed much interest in being an icon. In fact, she’s said the climate movement doesn’t need awards and turned down a major recognition in her honor. She also told Wired UK in an interview, “I do not see myself as a celebrity or an icon or things like that … I have not really done anything.”
It’s also worth noting that many teenagers who are active in the climate movement aren’t getting as much media attention as Thunberg does; and, notably, those activists are young people of color. For example, Autumn Peltier, who fights for clean water and Indigenous water rights. Or Bruno Rodriguez, who similarly to Thunberg, organized massive student walkouts over the climate crisis. Or Mari Copeny who first gained national attention by writing to then-President Barack Obama asking for help in the Flint, Michigan water crisis. Or Nadia Nazar, who wants to use art to raise awareness to push corporations to make big changes.
Thunberg is pretty incredible and so are the young activists of color working beside her. They—and their individual messages and causes—deserve as much recognition, whether it’s in the form of an enormous mural, interviews on daytime talk shows, or national headlines. Or all three.
And here’s a picture of the mural, which will reportedly debut on Nov. 12. The artist told TIME he’s worked on the mural for close to one year.