“Imagine” is Mexican artist’s Pedro Reyes latest project; one of impressively unique nature, which aims to attract the public’s attention towards the continuously increasing gun violence in Mexico and make a creative and sensitive statement against it. “A requiem for lives lost” is the message embedded in his amazingly inventive creations, “a sort of exorcism, expelling the demons” associated with guns and violence.
With the aid of 6 musicians, Reyes undertook the challenging task of transforming 6700 destroyed weapons – revolvers, shot-guns, machine-guns, which were scheduled to be buried or disposed of, into 50 musical instruments, over a period of two weeks. The once-deadly firearms were cut-down, liquefied and molded into a selection of string, wind and percussion instruments of life and joy. A transformation, which as the artist claims, was “more than physical”, taking into consideration the number of lives that were taken with these weapons.
“Imagine” is a progression of Reyes’ earlier project, back in 2008, Palas por Pistolas, where 1527 weapons were melted and made into the same number of shovels for the purpose of planting 1527 trees. Reyes’ artwork is a beautiful and creative way to raise awareness towards the disparity between visible and invisible violence. A very sensitive call for action.
