AK47 VS M16

Propeller Group, 2015

Two opposing bullets collide

To create this work, the artists aligned an M16 and an AK-47, the two main assault rifles that were used by the US and Vietnam in the Vietnam War, and fired them at each other inside a block of ballistic gelatin so that the two bullets collided and fused together. Ballistics engineers use gelatin to simulate the density of human flesh. The artists described their desire to have two bullets from opposing sides conjoin to form “a stalemate of a moment”, capturing the instant of impact “like a freeze frame”.

Image courtesy of The Propeller Group.