The art of war – SAS soldier hopes to make a mint for charity with NFT digital artwork
A British special forces soldier is bringing the brutality of the battlefield to the world of art by releasing a series of digital artworks in a bid to raise awareness of environmental issues – particularly those caused by conflict.
Bran Symondson, an SAS Reservist and artist, will be unveiling his debut NFT (non-fungible token) collection on Sunday.
Entitled Kalash 47 – The Art to Disarm, the 2,047 one-of-one NFTs are a combination of Bran’s physical AK47 sculptures and new AK47 pieces created exclusively just for the Kalash47 collection.
In his physical art, Bran uses the AK47 – one of the world’s deadliest and most iconic symbols of warfare – as a blank canvas. He then adorns the assault rifle with butterflies, money and other figurative symbols.
“Kalash 47 is a representation of many personal things that have a deep resonance with who I am, where I’ve been, and what I’ve seen,” he explained.
“It’s the same as applying patches to a uniform, decorating a school bag with badges that have meaning, or plastering your laptop with stickers that denote what you believe in; the subjects you are projecting are those close to your heart.
“That’s how I have treated this collection. It’s more than just a JPEG. It’s personal.”
Through this thought-provoking collection, Bran seeks to raise awareness of the environmental damage caused by war, including plastic waste, deforestation, and even the decline of bee populations.
The narrative of each artwork is found within the handmade glass bullets containing commodities related to its individual story. The AK47s which Bran works on are mainly sourced from war zones, and many are marked with tell-tale scars that attest to their former lives.
The aim of the NFT collection is to create an engaging and far-reaching community and to draw NFT enthusiasts into the conversation of global affairs. With the support of Bran’s chosen charity – ‘Greenpeace‘ – this collection could potentially construct a peaceful movement and help raise funds for international concerns.
Kalash 47 – The Art to Disarm took six months of planning and design to ensure each NFT contained the same quality and emotion that the artist brings to his physical work.
The physical artworks were last month shown at Bran’s debut exhibition ‘The Art to Disarm’ at the ‘The House of Fine Art’ (HOFA) Gallery in Mayfair, London.
For the first time the public was able to view the soldier’s chronicles and walk through his journey, Bran describes his exhibition as a transition “from battle to studio to blockchain”, rationalising how war has led him here and the irony that what we witness today is just a modification in digital form.
The minting for Kalash 47 will take place on Sunday December 19 2021 at 20:47pm GMT on Dropspace.
Prospective buyers will need to have whitelisted their wallet address beforehand and will need to pay an additional 0.28 ETH to create the NFT.
