Palas por Pistolas: Tree Planting

On Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 12pm, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza will plant one of the 1,527 trees for artist Pedro Reyes’ “”Palas por Pistolas”” project. Begun in 2008 in Culiacán, Mexico, “”Palas Por Pistolas”” is an investigation into the poetics of space, cultural agency, and transnational solidarity and a symbol of perseverance amidst a destabilizing reality
During the first phase of the project, weapons were solicited through television announcements and collected in exchange for vouchers for discounted electronics and appliances in local shops. Consequently, 1,527 firearms were collected, publicly steamrolled at a military base, melted, and recast into 1,527 shovels that were used to plant 1,527 trees.
More recently, a new phase of “”Palas por Pistolas”” has been initiated in Juarez, Mexico where the Mexican government provided 6,700 destroyed weapons. The immediate task is to transform this metal into 6,700 shovels and initiate the planting of 6,700 trees in a bi-national plantings throughout 2012 and 2013. The long-term goal of “”Palas por Pistolas”” is to become a permanent campaign to curb the circulation of small weapons in the entire Mexican territory while planting trees in acts of civic participation.
The tree planting ceremony take place as part of “”The Ripple Effect: Currents of Socially Engaged Art””, an exhibition of social practice, collaborative, and participatory work curated by Raquel de Anda and co-sponsored by Washington Project for the Arts and Art Museum of the Americas. Featuring artists from Latin America and the United States, the exhibition positions artists as architects of change building creative entry points into conversations on broad themes such as environmentalism, social justice, and immigration, while providing poetic and often concrete solutions.
image: Pedro Reyes, “”Palas por Pistolas””, 2008, Image courtesy Ballroom Marfa