Artists Take Aim at Gun Violence (VIDEO)

Artists from across the country are creating works of art using stocks, barrels, bullets and chambers from guns pulled off the streets for an exhibit, “Guns in the Hands of Artists,” which opens October 4 in New Orleans.

The show, presented by the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, is “a reprise of a similar show that took place 18 years ago,” as reported by NOLA.com.

NOLA adds that

When the New Orleans murder rate spiked to historic highs in the mid 1990s (424 in 1994, 363 in 1995 and 351 in 1996) a conceptual artist named Brian Borrello felt the need to make a symbolic statement. The New Orleans Police Department agreed to supply Borrello with a stash of firearms that had been taken out of street circulation. Borrello distributed the guns to New Orleans artists, who pounded the modern swords into artistic ploughshares. The exhibition was a positive, popular and widely reviewed response to one of the Crescent City’s darkest periods.

The original show took place at the funky Jonathan Ferrara gallery’s original Lower Garden District location where street violence was never far away.

The Jonathan Ferrara Gallery issued the following statement regarding the exhibit:

Jonathan Ferrara says of the project and upcoming exhibitions . . .

“Over the past 18 years, gun violence has continued to be a major issue that affects the very fabric of our culture, in New Orleans and across the entire country.

From Sandy Hook to Central City, deadly violence is a daily occurrence in our society.

18 years after the first exhibition, I have been compelled to revisit this project.

Over the past 18 months, I have worked with elected officials and NOPD to secure and obtain 186 hand guns and long barreled guns taken off the streets through an NOPD gun buy-back program. These decommissioned guns will be transformed into works of art by over 30 local and national artists.

The resulting art works will be on view at Jonathan Ferrara gallery from October 2014 thru January 2015 to coincide with ‘Prospect.3 Biennial, the largest biennial exhibition of contemporary art in the US.

During the exhibition, there will be educational tours for school children, panel discussions, and frank conversations about guns in our society.

In addition, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of these artworks will be dedicated to buying more guns off the streets to continue to affect some kind of change in our city.

When asked why I have dedicated so much of my time and energy to this project, my only reply is:

This is what I can do, this is what we must do and in some way I hope this furthers the discussion and affects change.

Together we can make a difference.

If this project can answer one question, stimulates one thought or saves just one life then we have made a difference.”

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