Spoils Of War

Spoils Of War (2013)

AK-47 (decommissioned from active service)

Spoils of War (2012), considers the relationship between trade and conflict in a global context. Taking a decommissioned AK-47 that has seen active service, as its subject, Bran first covers it with burnt dollar bills, suggesting dirt and fumes, & global capitalism a toxic fuel that powers this relationship. Bran then swaps out the AK-47’s bullets for commodities, each commodity coming from an area of conflict where the AK-47 is also prevalent. This tactic fails to neutralise the weapon, instead it seems to work 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 both 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.