Palas por pistolas
Pedro Reyes
Shovels for Guns
On commission from the Jardín Botánico de Culiacán, Pedro Reyes addressed the violence stemming from the so-called “war on drugs” with a large-scale social intervention. Through ads on local television, he called on the population to donate their firearms in exchange for coupons to obtain household appliances. 1527 guns were collected, 40% of which were legally defined as “for exclusive military use.”
The steel was publicly melted down under the supervision of the Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, then used to create 1527 shovels, one for each donated firearm. The same number of trees was planted as a contribution to reforesting the region, transforming an object designated for violence into one that enables life.
PEDRO REYES (1972)
Palas por pistolas, 2007
Shovels for Guns
10 shovels cast from surrendered guns
Acquisition through the SHCP Pago en Especie program, 2019
