Mel Evans is an artist and activist associated with artists collective Liberate Tate and arts and campaigning organisation Platform, who challenge the global impacts of the oil industry. She is the author of Artwash: Big Oil and the Arts (Pluto, 2015).
'A rapidly paced immensely readable breakdown of the oil business and the laundering of its image through patronage of the arts' -- Conrad Atkinson, Emeritus Professor, University of California '[Evans'] infectious optimism is the most striking feature of this persuasively argued and unashamedly idealistic book.' -- New Internationalist 'Critically discusses the impact of corporate sponsorship on the arts and exposes the motives of donors to shocking effect.' -- Big Issue in the North 'Sharp, pointed and persuasive.' -- ArtReview 'Provide[s] a a vigorous overview from an artist's perspective of a serious issue facing our major cultural institutions in these uncertain times.' -- Times Literary Supplement 'Places the end of oil sponsorship within a much longer history of standing up to corporations and winning.' -- New Statesman 'Charts campaigners' journey, drills down into why BP and Shell have snuggled up to our major cultural institutions, and details the impact of BP's Tate sponsorship on the gallery's reputation, staff, and artists, questioning who benefits from the 25-year relationship.' -- VICE 'This fascinating book delves deeply into the pressing debates about art sponsorship, one of the more insidious tools that the fossil fuel industry deploys to build and maintain its power, undermining the critical role of art in our democracies in the process.' -- Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything and The Shock Doctrine