23 Artists Turn AK-47s into Art Objects
Amnesty International award-winning photographer, Bran Symondson, brought together 23 artists for AKA Peace, a project tasking creatives to re-imagine fully decommissioned AK-47 assault rifles as art objects. Symondson describes the genesis of the project:
While serving in Afghanistan and also returning as a photographer for the Sunday Times Magazine, I used to see how the Afghan National Police (ANP) would sometimes adorn their AK47s with either colourful stickers, roses, or glitter tape. That’s where the seed was planted for the project. Then one day, I was taking cover from incoming AK47 fire in a ditch while a young ANP lad sat next to me with a bloody rose at the end of [his gun]. I laughed and thought when or if I get home the irony of taking these things and turning them into art works has to be done.
The work is curated by British artist Jake Chapman and produced by Peace One Day. Is an AK-47 splatter-painted by Damien Hirst (below) an earth-shattering artwork? Hirst used his ‘technique’ last year in a charity guitar show, and it’s good for raising money, but I prefer art guns I can eat and art guns I can smoke.
The AK-47 firearm is recognized as an international symbol of war, and each gun comes from a war-ravaged area of the world.
The transformed weapons have been on display at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and are currently being auctioned off today, October 4th. Proceeds will go directly to Peace One Day’s Global Truce 2013 Campaign.
Participating artists include: Jake and Dinos Chapman, Damien Hirst, Antony Gormley, Sam Taylor–Wood, Gavin Turk, Rebecca Warren, Stuart Semple, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Douglas Gordon, Jeremy Deller, Marc Quinn, Ryan Gander, Jim Lambie, Langlands and Bell, Mat Collishaw, Harland Miller, Bran Symondson, Sarah Lucas, Charming Baker, Antony Micallef, Nancy Fouts, Laila Shawa and Solange Azagury-Partridge.
Click through for more art guns and a musical pairing.
