British Museum visit, 2006

Brass statue of a Portuguese soldier (427 x 640)

The detail on the gun and uniform is quite striking, but the face is very stylized. It's interesting that the artist chose not to make the face realistic, despite clearly having the ability to. In fact, looking at art from lots of different cultures, one soom realizes that realistic faces are the exception rather than the rule. The Greeks and Romans did them, and we do them, but most other cultures prefer less realism in their art. I wonder why that is?

Tree of Life (427 x 640)

This sculpture of a tree was made recently in Mozambique. It's called the Tree of Life, and is constructed from recycled weapon parts. As far as I can tell, the brown colouration is due to natural rusting. Mozambique suffered many years of civil war; this display is the result of some artists taking destructive things and using them to create something instead. The smaller items around the base of the tree are also made from recycled weapons.

Tortoise made from Kalashnikov magazines (640 x 427)

So cute! Far nicer than the magazines' intended purpose.