Wonderland Wednesday - The Throne of Weapons

I know a lot of ladies in bloggy land post 'Wordless Wednesdays' but I have decided to start something different. As I am studying Anthropology and Sociology, I thought I would do a post on things in the big wide world which intrigue me. So every Wednesday I will write about something which is fascinating, wondrous or awe-inspiring. It's a huge world out there, and culture can be found everywhere. This week I am sharing with you an item  called the "Throne of Weapons."

I saw this a few weeks ago in the Western Australian Museum as part of the exhibit from the British Museum and it's story is really interesting.The throne was made by the Mozambican artist Cristovao Canhavato (Kester) from decommissioned weapons collected since the end of the civil war in 1992. It is a product of the TAE project - Transformaçaõ de Armas em Enxadas (Transforming Arms into Tools) - a program which exchanges weapons for agricultural, domestic and construction tools. The parts of the throne to some extent reflect the international arms trade. The main feature is the Russian AK47 rifle but there are also sections from Eastern European, Portuguese and North Korean guns.

There were a lot of beautiful items on display at the museum, but this was by far my favourite. The history of it, the meaning, the symbolism - I think it is just fantastic. For more info or to see more exhibits, visit www.britishmuseum.org To paraphrase a bit of Alice, this world keeps getting 'curioser and curioser' so I'll be back next Wednesday with another wonderful aspect of it.