Shooting Poverty into Art

Although not so much falling within the aesthetic pattern of the artworks we have been dealing with in this blog, we bring to you today something that, however, totally meets its objective of also introducing art pieces which have been produced within the scope of humanitarian projects with a social purpose. In fact, and just as we hope to have achieved with our post on the Tree of Life and the project behind it, we expect to touch your hearts and to emotionally engage you.

The Art of Peace

Peace begins with a smile, said Mother Teresa of Calcutta. And, indeed, a smile can be our first reaction when we set eyes on the art objects created by Sonia Rentsch in her “Harm Less” series (2013). In fact, she composes guns, grenades, bullets and other weapons by resorting exclusively to organic products, such as flowers, leaves, seeds or roots, thereby completely neutralising the lethal power associated to the objects she ironically mimics.

Sonia Rentsch is a Melbourne-based Still Life Artist, who graduated from Industrial Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. After successful professional experiences, she has ventured into working alone, following her belief that “there is beauty to be found in everything”, to quote her.

Transforming Arms into Tools

The Tree of Life sculpture was produced within the scope of the “Transforming Arms into Tools” (TAT) project founded by Bishop Dom Dinis Sengulane, Chairman of the Christian Council of Mozambique, a partner organisation of Christian Aid, an international development charity founded in 1953 and working in more than fifty countries with over 600 partner organisations helping some of the poorest communities irrespective of religion, race and background.  

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life, a sculpture.  Different sized gun barrels, butts and magazines, triggers, trigger guards and even complete pistols are transformed into the bark of a tree. Sliced, opened out and flattened metal sections from gun barrels and magazines become leaves, making up the thick foliage of this tree. This is how dismantled, chopped off weapons are made unusable for its original functions and exhibited as artworks in museums.  The Tree of Life, commissioned by the British Museum and created in 2004 in Mozambique to commemorate peace, is the first object we bring to you, inviting you to share it with us, to observe and to appreciate it, and – why not? – share it with others.