pedro reyes

interview and portrait

by ALEPH MOLINARI

Transforming two universal languages — war and music — the Mexican artist recycles weapons, converting them into instruments that produce rhythmic sound instead of death. 

He has also become a leading advocate for nuclear disarmament, using art as a tool for civic engagement and to raise awareness of the urgent need to abolish nuclear weapons. And we agree with him.

 

Pedro Reyes, Disarm (Mechanized) (detail), 2012, recycled metal

ALEPH MOLINARI — I find peace to be like love: it’s a concept that is hard to define, shaped by perception, and that can be altered by trauma or lived experience. How would you define peace? 

PEDRO REYES — There’s this idea that people in the West use the term “peace,” and that people who are oppressed use “liberation.” That is to say, the absence…