Illustrator Wu He Qilin responded to Australian Prime Minister Morrison

 

Illustrator Wu He Qilin responded to Australian Prime Minister Morrison: What you soldiers did is much crueler than my paintings!

2020-12-04 

(I have not had time to translate this myself, but ran it through Google Translate, so there is some clumsiness in expression.  However, the views of the originator of the artwork that upset Morrison are clear and should be available for Australians to read.)

　　

Wuhe Qilin　　

 

I painted the picture that made Australian Prime Minister Morrison angry. Until now, I have felt a little unbelievable. As a head of state, Morrison would have such a great emotion for a CG (computer graphics – ed) illustration work like me that he would criticize my painting at a press conference.

　　

In fact, Morrison’s anger and emotions should not be directed at my CG illustration that reflects reality at all, but should be directed at the government and garrison of his country, especially at the part of the Australian garrison that really committed brutality. Soldier, Morrison should be ashamed of his country's connivance and permissiveness of soldiers stationed abroad.

I made this painting on the evening of November 22 and during the day on the 23rd. At that time, I saw this news. It was very clear that the Australian garrison killed 39 civilians in Afghanistan, including two soldiers who cut their throats with daggers. A 14-year-old Afghan teenager.

After seeing this news, I felt very angry and shuddered. I can hardly imagine that in today's world, when the civilization of human society has reached such a level, why is there still such a cruel brutality by the national army?

　　

Out of a simple humanistic emotion, I processed and created my anger and shuddering feeling at the time, which is this CG illustration work. As a human being, I am ashamed of these Australian soldiers who committed brutality.

　　

Morrison also questioned that my painting was "forged," and some foreign netizens said it was PS (Photoshopped – ed). I want to say that their focus should not be whether this is a real picture or a creative work, but rather the event itself presented in the picture.

　　

I am an ordinary CG illustrator who is not well-known in China. I am just using my own works and ideas to record a truth. I regard the truthful record as my responsibility.

　　

This picture is my creation based on facts. Of course, the elements in the picture and the scenes in the picture are not real. In reality, there is no Australian soldier standing on the national flag and wrapping the head of an Afghan teenager holding a sheep with the national flag.

　　

But the Afghan teenager's throat cut by Australian soldiers happened in reality. I don't want to present this cruel picture to readers too intuitively. I covered the corpse behind the soldier with the Australian flag, and wrapped the head of the Afghan teenager with a corner of the flag. I asked the boy to hold a lamb in his arms, which contrasted with the color of the picture. Therefore, when readers saw this painting, they would pay attention to the lamb first, and then they would notice that the boy was holding his throat with a knife. At the same time, I designed an effect of the blue of the Australian flag to "swallow" the red of the Afghan flag, which is also a kind of insinuation of the reality in Afghanistan of some countries such as the United States and Australia.

　　

What I drew seems to be absurd, but it is actually something that happened in a certain corner of the world. I hope that more people will see this painting and pay attention to this tragedy that has happened in reality.

　　

In the process of creating CG illustrations, I did use Photoshop as a tool, but it is not PS. PS has a real photo as the foundation, but all the elements in my CG illustration are created by myself and combined by Photoshop. Realism is one of the styles of CG illustration, and many of my previous works are also in this style.

　　

It is a certain fact that the Australian troops killed Afghan civilians. How many people they killed, and what kind of responsibility they will bear in the future, Australia needs to give an explanation to the Afghans and the people of the world. Our focus should be in this direction. What happens in the real world is far more cruel, more bloody, and more chilling than what appears in my paintings.