| Make Everything Great Again | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Artist | Dominykas Čečkauskas, Mindaugas Bonanu |
| Year | 2016 (2016) |
| Type | Street art |
| Dimensions | 250 cm × 450 cm (98 in × 177 in) |
| Condition | Painted over |
| Location | Vilnius,Lithuania |
| Coordinates | 54°40′20″N25°17′15″E / 54.67209°N 25.28755°E /54.67209; 25.28755 |
| Website | Official website |
Make Everything Great Again was astreet artmural by artists Dominykas Čečkauskas and Mindaugas Bonanu.[1][2][3] It was located on the wall of thebarbecue restaurantKeulė Rūkė (Lithuanian for "Smoking Pig" (literal translation "The pig was smoking")) in therailway station area ofold town of Vilnius inLithuania.[2][3]
The mural depicting thenU.S. Republican presidentialcandidateDonald Trump giving afraternal kiss to the Russian presidentVladimir Putin was unveiled in May 2016. The captionMake Everything Great Again plays on Trump's campaign slogan "Make America Great Again".[4]
TheKeulė Rūkė restaurant closed its doors in October 2019.[5] Since July 2019, the mural was reported to have been painted over with a message "make empathy great again", although a small version of the original mural remained on a wall in the inner courtyard of the building.[6][7]
The artwork was unveiled in May 2016.[8]Make Everything Great Again appeared on the wall after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump exchanged statements of mutualadmiration, with thePresident of Russia describing Donald Trump as "a very colorful person, talented without any doubt,"[1][9][10] with Donald Trump replying that it was "a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."[9][11]
The image drew inspiration from photographs from 1979 ofLeonid Brezhnev andErich Honecker kissing as part of thesocialist fraternal greeting which in turn inspired the 1990 graffiti paintingMy God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love portrayed on theBerlin Wall byDmitri Vrubel.[2][3][12]
One of the artists, Dominykas Čečkauskas, owned the restaurant that had asked for the artwork.[1][9][12] He said in an interview: "We saw similarities between the twoheroes (Trump and Putin). ... They both have an ego that is too big, and it is funny that they get along well." Čečkauskas said "We are in a sort of aCold War again, and America may get a president who will want to be friends with Russia."[13] The artists, with the help of the mural, predict that if Russia and the US would ever "make out, it would happen in the Baltic states ... with tongues or with tanks.”.[14]The other artist, Mindaugas Bonanu, has stated that the kiss is not necessarily homoerotic. "I think there's nothing gay about them. They are kissing, right, like a Soviet Union thing; I think it's more about the past. But a lot of people especially in the US don't know the history," he has been cited as saying.[15]
In August 2016, the mural was defaced by unknown individuals with white paint.[16] It was subsequently restored, albeit changed into an image of Trump and Putinshotgunning ajoint.[17]
Vilnius MayorRemigijus Šimašius emphasized the values ofcivil liberties in his city in a statement to Lithuanian media organization LTnews.net: "There is no censorship in our city. That's why I support the idea of making this graffiti. It shows that Vilnius is the city of freedom, love and beauty."[18] Šimašius further remarked on a post to hisFacebook: "Vilnius is a city of freedom, where we don't have to be afraid of weapon rattling just several dozen kilometres away and express what we believe in without censorship."[18]
The work rapidly became popular and commented upon both within its home country and in global newspapers.[9][2][3]BBC News commented, "Once the initial shock has passed of seeing such testosterone-fuelled survivors of Cold War tension kissing, a closer look at the mural reveals a level of subtle political commentary that cuts against the superficial sensation."[19]Esquire called it "a provocative mural, to say the least."[4]Market Watch noted the mural had the impact of "sending a few ripples across the globe."[20]