pedro reyes: collects weapons and recycles them into shovels

Mexican designer Pedro Reyes collects dangerous weapons and recycles them into shovels used for tree planting.

“Palas por Pistolas” is a campaign in Western Mexico, an area with a high rate of deaths   by gunshot, that called for the voluntary donation of weapons.

Television adverts encouraged people to hand over both legal and illegal weapons to  receive, in return, a coupon that could be exchanged for domestic appliances and  consumer electronics.

A total of 1 527 weapons were collected, of which 40%  were high power automatic  weapons used exclusively in military operations. The weapons were crushed by a steam  roller in a public act and then melted at a foundry.

The shovels that were made using the melted steel were distributed to public schools and art institutions where adults and children planted a total of 1 527 trees, to match the number of weapons collected.

Reyes explained that “this ritual has a pedagogical purpose of showing how an agent of death can become an agent of life”.

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Other Projects of Pedro Reyes