A mural that was painted over a wall in Australia's city of Melbourne has triggered massive anger among Ukrainians, as it portrayed a tight hug between a Russian soldier and a Ukrainian counterpart.
Ukrainians who shared the photo in protest of its message said it mainly makes two equals of Ukrainian soldiers who are "defending their own land against the Russians" and the Russian soldier who is actively invading another sovereign country.
Such false equivalency is dangerous: it implies that peace can be achieved if both parties agreed to lay down their weapons. By now, we all have a clear idea of what would happen if Ukraine stopped fighting, so this “art” delegitimises the lived experiences of resistance 2/5 pic.twitter.com/aAT06ZaxNu
— Olga Boichak ?? (@olgarithmic) September 3, 2022
Even though the message painted in Kings Way, Melbourne was an attempt to support peace efforts between the two countries at war, protesting Ukrainians stressed the need to differentiate between an aggressor and victim in the context of the war which started on the 24th of February 2022.
According to online sources, the mural was titled "Peace before Pieces" by the Melbourne-based painter Peter Seaton, who added its pictures to his website saying: "Sooner or later the continued escalation of conflicts created by Politicians will be the death of our beloved planet".
Source: Twitter
Echoing these voices, Ukraine's ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko took to Twitter to express his disappointment in the mural, saying he wishes the Ukrainian community in Australia was consulted before the "utterly offensive" mural was painted.
“What would people think if a mural featured a rapist and a victim hugging?" -Stefan Romaniw
Moreover, local Ukrainian-Australian leader Stefan Romaniw, who co-chairs the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations said the mural represents a "false equivalence between the aggressor and the victim".
The “artist” Peter Seaton was in fact told by Art4UkraineAus in the consultation stage that it would be offensive yet chose to ignore it, then went on to self-promote with this, and sell NFTs of it.
— Aleona Labran (@aleonala) September 3, 2022
One online user, Ukrainian-Australian Aleona Labran tweeted that Peter Seaton was told by local Ukrainian-Australians that the mural would be offensive before he started painting it in Melbourne, saying he insisted to go with the mural to "self-promote and sell NFTs of it".
