In God We Trust

Taking a decommissioned AK-47 that has seen active service as its subject, Bran first covers the AK with real dollar bills, then burns it with a flame, suggesting dirt and fumes, a toxic fuel that powers this relationship. It is then collaged with hand-cut detailing from the dollar bills. Bran then cuts the magazine, revealing the AK-47’s glass bullets filled with commodities, each commodity coming from an area of conflict where the AK-47 is also prevalent. This tactic fails to neutralize the weapon; instead, it seems to signal the potency and latent power of each commodity. There is also a strongly implied inter-relationship between commodity and gun, both sustaining and compromising the other in a never-ending spiral. It asks the viewer to contemplate how closely bound one is to the other, and perhaps by extension, how closely we might be implicated.

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Bullet Fillings:

1. Opium poppy seeds (brought back from Afghanistan)

2. Oil

3. Cocaine

4. Blood

5. Religious symbols

6. Diamonds (Swarovski crystals)

7. Gold

8. Bullet with “your name” on it