Intruders daub every work on show at the Rosso20sette gallery in an attack on the Italian street artist, who has previously faced threats online.Three hooded men burst into a Rome art gallery on Tuesday evening and defaced every work in an exhibition by the Italian street artist and activist Laika.The raid took place at the Galleria Rosso20sette, where only the gallery owner was present. He was threatened and immobilised while the intruders sprayed the exhibited works with black paint. Police attended the scene. The show, The Collapse of Democracy – States of Injustice, Chapter 2, features around 20 works, including canvases, paper pieces and installations. They stem from the artist’s second trip to the United States. The gallery has no security cameras, but there are cameras in the street outside, which may prove decisive for investigators. A witness is reported to have seen the incident from the street. The motive is unclear, though it may be linked to the themes of the exhibition. Laika's work is openly political and social, and she has used public spaces to comment on power, rights and injustice. The works on display include a naked Donald Trump in The King Is Naked, a burning Tesla in Burn, Tesla, Burn, and the singer Patti Smith calling for "Free Palestine". Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King appear as symbols of the fight against racism.The exhibition text asks viewers whether these are truly the “Western values” that must be defended, and whether a radical revolution is needed for a more sustainable future faithful to democracy and human rights. It describes the show as a harsh critique but one that leaves “a glimmer of hope” through its tribute to the movements and faces of American society that have fought for change. The project, it says, is “an act of collective imagination”: a future without racism, wars and genocides, oligarchs and kings, built on social justice, human rights and peace. This is not the first time Laika has been targeted. She has previously received threats, but these had always come via social media. In 2024 her mural of Paola Egonu, an Italian volleyball champion of Nigerian heritage, was the subject of a racist attack after vandals used spray paint to change Egonu's skin colour.

Three hooded men burst into a Rome art gallery on Tuesday evening and defaced every work in an exhibition by the Italian street artist and activist Laika. The raid took place at the Galleria Rosso20sette, where only the gallery owner was present. He was threatened and immobilised while the intruders sprayed the exhibited works with black paint. Police attended the scene. The show, The Collapse of Democracy – States of Injustice, Chapter 2, features around 20 works, including canvases, paper pieces and installations. They stem from the artist’s second trip to the United States. The gallery has no security cameras, but there are cameras in the street outside, which may prove decisive for investigators. A witness is reported to have seen the incident from the street. The motive is unclear, though it may be linked to the themes of the exhibition. Laika's work is openly political and social, and she has used public spaces to comment on power, rights and injustice. The works on display include a naked Donald Trump in The King Is Naked, a burning Tesla in Burn, Tesla, Burn, and the singer Patti Smith calling for "Free Palestine". Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King appear as symbols of the fight against racism.

The exhibition text asks viewers whether these are truly the “Western values” that must be defended, and whether a radical revolution is needed for a more sustainable future faithful to democracy and human rights. It describes the show as a harsh critique but one that leaves “a glimmer of hope” through its tribute to the movements and faces of American society that have fought for change. The project, it says, is “an act of collective imagination”: a future without racism, wars and genocides, oligarchs and kings, built on social justice, human rights and peace. This is not the first time Laika has been targeted. She has previously received threats, but these had always come via social media. In 2024 her mural of Paola Egonu, an Italian volleyball champion of Nigerian heritage, was the subject of after vandals used spray paint to change Egonu's skin colour.