University City, MO — ST. LOUIS – Throughout history, artists have been at the forefront of discussion and change, including the complex issues of gun ownership and gun violence.
Curator, artist and activist Boris Bally has enlisted more than 100 other artists to reconfigure and reimagine buy-back guns into artwork to explore non-violence.
That led to the traveling exhibit, I.M.A.G.I.N.E. Peace Now.
“I decided to initiate this project called I.M.A.G.I.N.E. Peace Now, which stands for the Innovative Merger of Art and Guns to Inspire New Expressions of Peace Now, loosely based on John Lennon’s idea of imagine peace,” said Bally, during a recent visit to St. Louis. “I was able to send a disabled weapon to artists in 6 different countries and ask them to respond in any way they wanted to about gun violence, gun control. I did not ask them to have any political angle. I wanted them to create their own narrative to tell their own story, whether they’re gun owners, gun haters, gun lovers. Every opinion was welcome.”
The I.M.A.G.I.N.E. Peace Now traveling exhibit remains in St. Louis until May 13 at two locations: Maryville University and the Craft Alliance Center of Art and Design in University City.
