Smelting: A Gun Legacy

"In this live pour, I intended to link performance and object, and to bridge my 1996 work; The Manhole Cover Project, of which cast 228 utility covers from 11,194 guns confiscated by the Connecticut law enforcement, to New Orleans in current effort of transforming weapons into art. During the performance, I smelted guns taken from the streets of New Orleans, along with gun shell casings, and poured the iron-infused brass into a sand-cast impression lifted from the pattern that was used in The Manhole Cover Project. Part alchemy, part historical reference, this transformation and symbolic tracing of a past work aims to remind us that the national conversation around gun violence and ownership has not changed. The object fabricated in this performance fused present with past- the metal disc made from the impression of 'The Manhole Cover' pattern was penetrated with firearms taken from the streets of New Orleans, to create a touchstone of which aims to contribute to the civic discourse concerning gun ownership active in this local community.

The epidemic of gun violence shaped urban cities in the 1990s and was a focus of my work for a decade, and is still active. The mothers who have lost children to gun violence twenty years ago are joined each year in small and large cities of equivalence. Our national policies stand without change, and even the most reasonable efforts to enact gun legislation are still facing huge obstacles. Our national attention attends focus momentarily when major tragic acts of violence are in the headlines, but for the thousands of families who have lost loved ones to gun violence and experience incarceration each year, the impact of this public health crisis continues to be felt. As artists we can contribute to this essential discourse and long-overdue change.”