Arms into Art in Africa

[nwilliams]

Just stumbled across this and thought it was kind of interesting.

http://www.africaserver.nl/nucleo/eng/index.html

 

[PILMAN]

That's disgusting, whoever consider that art needs to question their stance on gun rights

 

[ColinthePilot]

Looks more like perfectly good guns into junk.

 

[RonE]

I liked Cavalo by Fiel the best, great use of the Mousin Nagant!

 

[novaDAK]

No.

needs repeated. NO!!!

art my ass.

 

[Funderb]

Looks like art to me.

 

[Cosmoline]

Keep in mind this is a favorite form of agitprop for the antis. I'm not going to criticize some victim of war who does this as therapy or whatever, but these kinds of objets d'art are often used as support for civilian gun bans.

 

[larry starling]

PILMAN
That's disgusting, whoever consider that art needs to question their stance on gun rights

+1 well said......

 

[Rugerlvr]

eh, it's harmless.

 

[Henry Bowman]

Those who beat their swords into [artistic expressions of] plowshares will soon be plowing for those who don't.

 

[redneckdan]

Hows the saying go..."Those that beat their swords into plows, will plow for those that don't"?

 

[nwilliams]

I have mixed feelings about it.

As much as I don't like seeing guns destroyed I can understand "art" like this coming out of a country like Mozambique. Guns there hold a very different meaning than guns do to us here in America. I don't condone the medium they picked but I can understand why they picked it if you look at it from their point of view. From a gun loving American perspective its sacrilege to destroy firearms in the name of art. However these artists come from a very different world view and would probably have as much trouble understanding our view on firearms as we do theirs.

Just my 2¢

 

[scrat]

looks like crap that needs to be melted down to me.
What a waiste.

 

[HB]

I think it's fine... If I had a government that didn't allow me to own a gun, and all the guns I had seen in my life had been pointed at me, it would certainly stir some emotions. A lot of gun owners don't see that many many people have been hurt by armament of guerillas and disarmed voiceless citizens. Those guns/equipment represent a bloody past that needs to be remembered. Guns are power and fear in most of the world, not liberty and a right. Maybe if they were armed it wouldn't have happened, who knows.

It's a waste of guns, they could ship them to us? Yeah, just like when you were a kid and your parents told you to finish your dinner because there are kids in Africa starving... Should I ship them my unfinished dinner?

Does one of those shotgun lamps call my 2nd Ammendment beliefs into question, I don't think so

HB

 

[Guns and more]

I guess there won't be any crime there now.

 

[Justin]

I think the piece entitled "Chair of an African King" says rather a lot about the dismal shape of your average government in an African nation.

 

[cornman]

The world would be a better place if all guns were made into art. The whole gun culture thing is part of the problem with the pro-gun groups. They cannot think objectivly.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

Africa must be the most peaceful place on earth...

 

[RP88]

I actually like the creativity involved. but, the unspoken opinion on guns behind it is something that I definitely do not agree with.

 

[Drgong]

Funny thing is, the country flag that this art is in has a AK-47 as part of its motif...

 

[theotherwaldo]

-Looks like the stuff I did back in California in the late 70s, except my workmanship was better.
Materials were care of the LAPD.

In a way, I like the message of Arms into Art in Africa - most of those cut-up guns came from the caches of local warlords or the armories of the so-called Police forces. Very few were taken from ordinary citizens.

I don't like the way this "art" is presented in America, though.
Like my own work. I quit doing that kind of stuff when I realized that folks weren't seeing the tools of a criminal being turned into interesting, useful, or amusing objects. Instead, each piece was seen as a celebration of the destruction of the symbols of the opposition - the symbolic burning of the enemy's totem.
I ended that, in fact I did a series where I turned everyday objects and found materials into what appeared to be weapons, up to and including artillery pieces.

That was fun, too.

 

[Gunnerpalace]

A guy in the US is doing that too, AK's into chairs,


And I did not even read the article.

 

[Onmilo]

A lot of those weapons are turn in from boy soldiers who should be playing soccer and going to school, not being force to commit atrocities and get blown to bits in the name of whatever power is calling itself the governing body of the district this month.

This isn't about being pro or anti gun, it is about hundreds of thousands of black Africans dying horrendous deaths that in many cases, they don't even understand why they are being targeted.

What this site offers is art, African Art, If you don't understand it, you probably shouldn't comment on it.

I thank the O.P. for making me aware of the site.

 

[SN13]

Oh those poor Auto-sear AKs in that chair!

It's interesting to look at.

In America, guns are freedom, in Africa, guns are oppression. It's all about who owns the guns. In America it's the people, in Africa, it's the government(s).

 

[JohnL2]

Not a big fan of modern contemporary art. Actually, the class I did the worst in was Art History when I was in college.
I pretty much only remember the Guernica, the Wyeth family, and the Ashcan school. It was a supreme effort to stay awake in that class.