Review by Ian Keogh
Peter Kuper has been among the foremost political cartoonists for decades, able to analyse the situation, point the finger and show the consequences in a way all but the blind can see.
Wish We Weren’t Here is the first American publication of strips Kuper produced for French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, each four panels of continuity themed around climate change and resulting ecological issues. They’re accompanied by the headline inspiring them, a brief explanation, and reference the articles prompting the cartoons. Kuper works wordlessly, so the strips can be understood anywhere, with the caveat that some shorthand does require general knowledge. A strip about wildfires in Canada affecting the USA for instance needs readers to recognise a Canadian flag for the point to register.
The strips are always thoughtful, and sometimes masterfully delivered with visual impact a priority. Time and again Kuper’s imagination heads in directions no other cartoonist would take in interpreting how humanity is collectively running headlong and blindfold toward the cliff edge by continuing to downplay the impact of climate change. However, Kuper also deftly reinterprets traditional cartoon tropes such as the person on a desert island with a single tree. Here it proves no sanctuary as the island is engulfed by rising sea levels. Major industrial companies are damned via their own comments and the topic of Kuper’s most savage cartoons. A headline about one-fifth of reptiles facing extinction is illustrated by three species with double X logos imprinted on them with the fourth panel being Exxon CEO Darren Woods drawn as a lizard in a suit with industrial plants belching out gases seen through his window.
No comforting contrast is offered. By arranging the strips into themed topics, such as the dangers of plastics and how much plastic we’re unknowingly ingesting, there’s deliberate repetition hammering messages home. It makes for a continual assault, separated by relevant quotes from sources as diverse as the poet Robert Frost and The Onion.
Kuper is aware he’s largely preaching to the converted, although the converted may learn new information, such as how global avocado consumption is driving illegal deforestation, and his introduction likens the efforts of a lifetime to tossing a pebble into the ocean. It’s a depressing assessment, yet this is cartoon brilliance highlighting the hypocrisy, deceit and callous disregard for humanity’s future displayed by vested interests.
