Guns are a thorny issue in national and international politics. Defined by Merriam-Webster primarily as “a weapon”, it is clear that guns are manufactured as an object to cause harm. In fact, in the U.S. alone, every single year, over 33,000 people are killed by guns, and a further 80,000 are injured.
But what if guns could be appropriated and used for an altogether different purpose? Helping instead of harming?
The Solution of Art
The idea changing the use of these weapons was the vision of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes, whose latest work took place in the city of Culicán, Mexico, which boasts the unfortunate statistic of being the city with the highest rate of gun deaths in the nation.
In a groundbreaking project, Reyes transformed guns, which take lives, into tools that have the power to give life. He collected 1,527 guns from inhabitants of the city, who received electrical store coupons in return. He then transformed these firearms into 1,527 shovels which were subsequently distributed to art institutions and schools, not just in Culicán, but around the world, providing communities with the tools to plant 1,527 trees.
He called this project ‘Palas por Pistolas’ or ‘Shovels for Guns.’
The Issue of Guns in Mexico
Mexico has a very dangerous problem in the form of their U.S. neighbours. One cannot buy a gun in Mexico; however drug traffickers need only to make a short trip over the border to more relaxed gun laws, which then find their way back to Mexico’s cities and inhabitants.
Pedro Reyes has watched these issues unfold around him on a local level but has also seen the impact of gun violence on a global scale. By way of a response to the destruction brought on by guns, he wanted to show through this project how “an agent of death can become an agent of life.”
The guns collected from the city’s residents – 40% of which were meant for exclusive military use – were crushed with a steamroller before being transported to a foundry and melted. This raw material was then sent to a major hardware factory where it was molded into shovels. These were subsequently distributed around the city, entirely repurposed, and no longer possessing the same deathly power they once held.
Transformation of Use and Perception
Watch the above video to see how Reyes turned guns into musical instruments!
This transformation changes not only the guns’ practical use but also the psychological perception of those who see or use the newly created shovels. The same material has been used in a different way, revealing the range of possibilities that these materials hold, and breaking down the notions that they need to be used in one way or another. He simultaneously destroyed and built the meaning of the objects, getting rid of the gun’s associations with death and replacing them with associations of life.
Essentially, Reyes gave people the opportunity to choose between ending a life with a gun, and starting a life by planting a tree. As this tree grows, it will continue to sustain human life on earth through its conversion of carbon dioxide into oxygen, continuing to do so well into the future.