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New life for old guns You are in: surefish > culture > Africa 05 Date: 9 February, 2005
A chair made out of machine guns and a tree from pistols and grenade launchers drew crowds at the British Museum at the start of Africa 2005, a season of events celebrating African arts and cultures. Susan Roberts reports on sculptures from Mozambique that put old arms to a new use It was an idea that came in the night when he was deep in thought and praying for inspiration. Bishop Dom Dinis Sengulane, Anglican bishop of Libombos, Mozambique, hadn’t been able to sleep after a conference on peace and reconciliation in his war-ravaged country. Speakers had discussed the millions of weapons still hidden illegally after 16 years of civil war – the biggest threat to peace, they said. These weapons needed to be destroyed but no one knew exactly how. The answer, when it came to the Bishop, seemed to him to make perfect sense. He decided to act on the words of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and persuade people to hand over their guns in exchange for tools: to turn ‘swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks’. Inspiration Nine years after that sleepless night, the Bishop has seen his flash of inspiration transformed into art that will bring home the issues Mozambique has been facing to many thousands of people. Two sculptures of decommissioned weapons by Mozambican artists are on display at the British Museum, London – ‘wonderful symbols of peace and reconciliation’, according to the museum’s director Neil MacGregor. The ‘Throne of Weapons’ is a chair with legs, arms and back made out of pieces of sawn-up AK-47s. The ‘Tree of Life’ is three metres high: birds shelter under a trunk and branches made out of machine guns, pistols and grenade launchers. Both were unveiled in early February to help launch Africa 2005, a season of events celebrating the continent’s arts and cultures. Bishop Sengulane, who travelled over for the launch, pointed out that Isaiah’s vision was of a Utopia where peace reigns. Under the Tree of Life, men can rest and animals feel no fear. “This is a story about Mozambique, not about conflict and misery, but about creativity to bring an extraordinary message….,” he said, holding his crucifix made from parts of guns. “And not just a creative initiative but a project to challenge us all.” The major decommissioning project that resulted from his idea was ‘Transforming Arms into Tools’, run by the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) and supported by Christian Aid. Some 600,000 weapons, hidden away since the end of the civil war in 1992, have been handed over in exchange for ‘instruments of production’, like sewing machines, bicycles and building materials. No one asks for names and papers, said the Bishop. The weapons are simply taken away, smashed and melted down. Sculptures Some, like the ones in the British Museum, have been made into sculptures by local artists. The “Tree of Life”, commissioned jointly by the British Museum and Christian Aid, was made by four artists from the Nucleo de Arte – Kester, Fiel dos Santos, Hilario Nhatugueja and Adelino Mathe. “It’s disarmament with a Biblical heart,” said the Bishop, who is chair of the CCM’s Peace and Reconciliation Committee and was actively involved in peace negotiations between the Mozambican government and rebels to end the civil war. “We are transforming the guns into something positive. We are using a passage of scripture to transform the gun - and the mind of the person handing it over - into a peacemaker.” The project is particularly powerful because its message is universal, as relevant to non-Christians as to believers, he said. “The concept has to do with those who are concerned with guns in the wrong hands. We don’t need to believe in the Bible to have those kinds of concerns.” It’s also more than a quick fix. Ideally, through the exchange of guns for tools, the project brings a long-term solution to the problems of people in one of the world’s poorest countries. People who hand over weapons are given in exchange the method and means to earn money and plan their future, he pointed out. Honest “‘Transforming Arms into Tools’ is helping people to earn their living in an honest manner, in a constructive manner,” said the Bishop. “A gun that a person uses at night – in crime, shooting – can be exchanged for a plough. For example, a group of farmers found 500 guns and brought them to us. In exchange we gave them a tractor – to cultivate the land, to transport firewood and many other things. “If a child brings bullets – which are easier to a child to find - in exchange we give something material to help him go to school, study and get a profession.” ‘Transforming Arms into Tools’ is also vividly bringing African political and cultural issues alive for a new public. The British Museum, a key partner in Africa 2005 with Arts Council England and the South Bank Centre, hopes that all its Africa-themed exhibitions and events this year will stimulate similar debate and give audiences a fresh insight into the issues faced by the continent. The British Museum houses one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of material from Africa: during Africa 2005 these artefacts will be put under a new spotlight. The “Throne of Weapons”, which was made by the Nucleo de Arte artist Kester, will tour more than 20 venues in the UK, not just art galleries and museums but shopping centres, cathedrals, schools and prisons. The aim is to broaden the ways people can look at Africa, and challenge pre-conceptions about African contemporary society, said British Museum director Neil MacGregor. “Africa 2005 is not just to celebrate the arts of Africa but about using the celebration to change the way we engage with the different cultures of Africa - and to raise and consider the big issues Africa has to confront now.” For more on the ‘Throne of Weapons’ tour dates and Africa 2005, visit • www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk • Back to surefish Africa 05 index page
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