Main Edition
US
FR
September 22, 2022 - 5:56pm
Earlier this month, a mural of two soldiers embracing — one Ukrainian and one Russian — appeared on the side of a building in Melbourne. It was the work of Peter Seaton, an Australian street artist known for large-scale graffiti. The title he gave the work was ‘Peace before Pieces’, which he describes as a ‘meditation on the dehumanisation of war’.
Seaton’s intention, he explained to UnHerd’s Florence Read, was simple: to show that “beyond all of these physical fear layers, there is an aspect of us which exists in a higher plane […] even though these two soldiers are literally blowing the hell out of each other, they are actually coming from the same source on a deep, deep level.”
After images of the mural found their way to social media, however, the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia demanded that it was removed. Why? His anti-war artwork didn’t take a side.
1/ A recently unveiled mural in @Melbourne showing a RU and a UA soldier hugging is utterly offensive to all Ukrainians. The painter has no clue about the RU invasion of Ukraine and it is disappointing to see it done without consulting the Ukrainian community in Melbourne. pic.twitter.com/TCG6s7W9SJ
— Vasyl Myroshnychenko (@AmbVasyl) September 3, 2022
The images spread on social media and a pile-on ensued. By the next morning, the artist had painted over his mural.
He now says that he regrets capitulating to the social pressure: “I’ve had friends who are big controversial artists, who, subsequently told me I should never have done it. […] I shouldn’t have caved… It’s art!” In his view, the pro-peace artwork was cancelled for not reflecting the priorities of the ‘warmongers’ invested in the conflict in Ukraine.
He joined UnHerd in the studio to answer the question: is pro-peace art the next victim of tribal thinking?
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeIf you dont support a peaceful solution to the war in the Ukrane then what does that make you?
Precisely. It makes you a psychopath. Which evidently is quite common among political types.
Would a mural of a Polish soldier being embraced by a member of the Wehrmacht in late 1939 have been appropriate? I think not.
But we all know that British and German soldiers put down their weapons and sang Silent Night/Stille Nacht on Christmas Day in the ‘Great War’ – give peace a chance.
Appropriate? I think the artist has the right to paint what he wants whether or not you think it is appropriate
Exactly. If anything most western artists have been supine in recent years – refusing to take on the excesses of our culture. I think it is great that this artist challenged convention – that is what artists are supposed to do.
He does, but people also have the right to criticise that art, which is what has happened
Are you aware of a Christmas truce during the Great war when German and British soldiers, real humans (not a painting) laid down their weapons and embraced! Was that an abomination?
Should the words of Jesus also be banned? After all he supported NO war and just went on and on about the dreaded peace: and also those fail to support all these wonderful wars we’re having such as Gandhi?
I think it’s appalling the artist was browbeaten into painting it over. He should have stuck to his ‘guns’!
Liam a mawkish mural is not the answer.
Yes it would!
To Hell with what’s ‘appropriate’ – an utterly subjective judgment.
In a free society – which of course Australia is not – people are free to express themselves as they see fit, and those who claim to be ‘offended’ can go hang.
Making ‘pro-peace’ art is one thing. Suggesting what form that peace might take and how it would be achieved is a little more challenging.
That is certainly true. And is a relevant comment.
But the major issue/topic is that all peacefully expressed opinions deserve to exist and be made known. I mustn’t cancel your expression just because I disagree with the content. It is frightening how fragile commitment to freedom of expression has proved to be. I would never have believed that we would have arrived at the current situation of intolerance towards peacefully expressed opinions. But we have allowed it to happen. Can it now be reversed? Is freedom of thought and speech destined to remain in the dustbin of history?
Unherd and its posters are so pro-war I am not surprised you Neo-Cons do not get this peice. Right from the start all that was needed was meeting at the table to establish peace. If Ukrane would make concessions it never would have gone to this global destroying WWIII it is now. But Biden must have his war, so refused the possibility of truce. My guess is dozens of Millions of third world people will starve once the World Bank runs out of SDR to print – as reality sets in of the inflation increasing. This war is going to kill many millions – by want – by famine, and that leads to the 4 horsemen.
You warmongers thik this is just heating bills? This is the global economy getting its death stroke after the insane covid response almost killed it…
Anyway – when finally a truce is called – and those two soliders know they will live – and they can stop blowingup, and shooting, other people – I HOPE THEY CAN HUG.
Blood covered Neo-Cons could never hug, they love war too much – Biden and his mini-me Boris…. But humans can – Soldiers can – when war ends – when You Neo-Cons let the peace makers go to the truce table and stop it!
By the way you people – you should understand soliders are humans too. They want to survive to go home. They know war is hell, they do not want this. This is 100% political. This is 100% a Biden Putin Proxy war – and it is Biden who keeps it going, stops any truce. He could force a truce tomorrow, but he loves this war too much – like you all do. Putin would love a truce that ended this – Biden, and Truss – they will not allow that – even though it drove Russia into China’s arms….
Soliders want to go home – they want Peace – if you told these guys it was over – that other poor conscript was no longer your enemy – no more need to kill and die – they could hug – knowing they can raise their families and let the other raise theirs.
Soldiers are exactly like all young men, they are just like you were, like your sons and brothers – they are not killing and dieing from blood lust – they do it because Putin, Biden and Zelenski make them!
When there is peace – you do nor know what happens – it could be this, I pray it is.
‘Ukrane’ hasmade many concessions for example, Sevastopol and its surroundings.
I don’t think Ukraine has annexed any part of Russia.
If you want peace prepare for war,a terrible thing but true
Grow up.
That’s a retort so weak and desperate it’s not worth making. Can you do no better?
Perfectly appropriate and succinct response to an incoherent, GCSE sociology level rant full of conspiracy theory and probably written by a bot (which means I shouldn’t have bothered at all).
Well said – this war will likely have more victims in the third world who starve to death due to lost wheat harvests than deaths in Ukraine – which already exceed 100,000. I feel that the Western powers wanted this war to happen – for which they should be ashamed.
It should have been left up to show how out of touch Left Wing artists are.
Art is not supposed to be “in touch” in the sense you mean. You might be getting confused with the art approved by Hitler and Stalin. Those artists were very much “in touch”!
As a work of art it’s pretty lame. Ironically it doesn’t take much these days to set the dogs barking.
“In his view, the pro-peace artwork was cancelled for not reflecting the priorities of the ‘warmongers’ invested in the conflict in Ukraine.”
Maybe that’s what his art should have been about.
.
Maybe that’s what his art WAS about?
Hug the people who are destroying your homes, and killing and raping your family and friends, has to be among the dumbest possible messages.
The message may be dumb but expressing it MUST be allowed. Otherwise we in effect live under mob rule.
You’re half right: but the message isn’t dumb. It is after all the message of Christ. Anyone who criticises this artwork has no right to call themselves Christian. Use another, more accurate term: “Warmonger” or something that fits.
Forgiveness is not a one-way street. According to Putin all Russians good all Ukrainians bad.
So to be reconciled with somebody who does not ask forgiveness is a non-starter.
Why should a Russian soldier ask for forgiveness if he’s doing no wrong?
It isn’t dumb. This war will end and the warring parties will have to move on. We no longer hate the Germans and the Japanese – but once we did quite viscerally. The Russians and Ukrainians are close cousins. Wishing for peace and forgiveness is not stupid or wrong.
Correct.Distance of any kind creates abstraction and Melbourne is a long way from Bucha.
The artist’s message is that soldiers hugging is better than Bucha: which do you prefer?
That scenario suggests:
All Russian soldiers are evil – wrong!
No Ukrainian soldier is evil – wrong!
War itself doesn’t create evil- wrong!
Reconciliation is wrong – wrong!
There is also the very strong possibility that neither soldier is evil and indeed there is a possibility the two are close friends! Both sides have many friends on the other side. The latter scenario is, I submit, far, far more likely. And given the 4 wrongs above the art is 100% valid!
Oddly that was exactly the message of Christ! Weird isn’t it? What an appalling idea!
“Street” and “Art” – sorry, I don’t think they go together. (Nearly always) Middle-class vandalism.
Quite right! Flog him and lock him up!
When the truth comes out – if ever – about the influence of the criminal Biden gang and the military/pharma/business/industrial/CIA/FBI complex – there will be a lot of red faces – but because we will all own nothing and are busy being happy – we’ll probably miss it.
Peace should always be celebrated.
The artist seems to think that ‘controversy’ is an inherent (and desirable) feature of ‘art’. In my view it’s a complete irrelevance. Neither controversy or its lack is any part of artistic experience. The idea that it is ‘ is a political view, not an artistic one.
I don’t believe the artist was cancelled in this case. He put up his art in a public space, some people had some strong opinions on the matter so he covered it up again. Criticism isn’t cancelling, he hasn’t lost his livelihood or been barred from producing any more art, merely this one piece didn’t get the reaction he was hoping for
Well-done to all the utterly reactionary and non-educated, brain-washed, Ukrainian propaganda swallowing commentators on here. And NO, I’m not a Russian/Putin AI-Robot. Neither am I a simple contrarian, I AM however aware of the actual situation on a geo-political basis of this conflict; both from a historical and the external political manipulation of such. Zelensky is a very dangerous and corrupt man, this is well documented and was the main basis of both an EU & US/NATO report prior to this conflict. You are feeding his psychotic ego! He is and is still; an attention seeking social media manipulator. His entire presidency was based on this fact. He made a comedy show in 2015 (Yes that’s right, he did not even enter politics until 2018!) about his predecessor’s corruption but was found to have offshore accounts in Panama himself in late 2021. For the luv of God people wake up and actually research this conflict’s origin and the main players. Also, the actual ethic-demographic disparity and geographical dispersal. Crimea was always part of Russia until the 1950s until the then USSR added it to Ukraine as an administrative area. It is ethnically Russian, always has been, as is, most of East Ukraine… This man would NOT have an issue with bringing us all into a wider conflict as events of late have proved. WAKE UP!
What did the person who applied the paint to the wall actually try to convey? That both sets of soldiers are human beings? That’s about as “deep” as looking at the illustrations in a comic.
He might do well to learn how to think before claiming to be an artist.
Many comic books are a sight more engaging and thought provoking!
Although not very “deep” as you point out, the message seems to have missed 90% of the population. Maybe that 90% are even less deep than you imagine?
A blatant attempt to get Ukraine to ‘negotiate’ – ie appease naked and barbaric Russian imperialism.
So …let’s nuke ’em? See how they like that eh?
No Liam let’s not Nuke’em but unfortunately Putin doesn’t negotiate.