Street Art Depicts Trump And His Comrade In Intimate Kiss

Art often imitates life, and it’s also an effective means of expressing political opinions. One recent example is some street graffiti, depicting a passionate kiss between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, that went viral on social media in Lithuania.

It is more than merely trolling or intending to throw insults at the two politicians. The graffiti is an expression of concern about the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Russia, in the event that Trump is elected president.

Whether this would be something good or bad for the U.S. and the world remains to be seen. If both Trump and Putin are equated to ultra-conservatism and demagoguery, then nothing good could come out of this.

Considering the attitude of Trump against immigrants and other U.S. rival countries like China, his recent comments about the Russian President deviated from his usual pugnacious speeches.

Both the Russian President and the GOP presumptive presidential nominee have been publicly praising each other.

For instance, Putin complemented Trump during one of his televised annual press conferences in Moscow by saying:

“He is a bright personality, a talented person, no doubt about it. It is not up to us to appraise his positive sides, it is up to the U.S. voters but, as we can see, he is an absolute leader in the presidential race.”

The graffiti artwork is similar to the Unhate ad campaign by Benetton, showing various world leaders kissing. The ad campaign depicted photoshopped photos of traditionally antagonistic world leaders locked in passionate kisses. Two examples are a kiss between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Unlike the Unhate campaign, however, the graffiti artwork in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius is alluding to an actual historical photograph. The graffiti’s inspiration was the 1979 photograph of the then USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German President Erich Honecker.

The famous “fraternal kiss” between the two communist leaders during the Cold War-era was oddly similar in context compared to the graffiti artwork of Trump and Putin.

Dominykas Ceckauskas is the businessman who commissioned the giant mural on the outside wall of his restaurant. According to him, there are many similarities between the two politicians, like their big egos.

Both Trump and Putin are also potential threats to world peace as both of them have the tendencies to favor aggression in their foreign policies. Both are also critical about NATO and eastern European nations.

Lithuanians see the friendship between Trump and Putin as a threat to the security of their country and other Baltic states.

As associate professor of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science in Vilnius, Kestutis Girnius, said:

“This graffiti in Vilnius expresses the fear of some Lithuanians that Donald Trump is likely to kowtow to Vladimir Putin and be indifferent to Lithuania’s security concerns.”

Homar has been a writer and editor for both print and online publications for more than fifteen years. He also worked for a scientific research institution and for a book publishing house. He currently works as a home-based freelance online writer and copy editor. He is active in various local civic organizations and regularly contributes as a columnist in regional newspapers in the Bicol Region, Philippines.