BRAN
Taking something of fear and loathing & turning it into something of beauty and intrigue.
Bran Symondson is a British sculptor, artist, and photographer known for his works related to the War in Afghanistan. He transforms items of violence, such as AK-47 rifles, into art. His work has been featured in multiple exhibitions, including ‘The Best View of Heaven is From Hell’, ‘Hollywood Reloaded’ and ‘AKA Peace’.
Born in 1971, Bran started his photography career in the 1990s but joined the British Army Special Forces Reserves in 2004. During his deployment to Helmand province, he took personal pictures of landscapes, civilians, and Afghan police, whom he was helping to train.
After returning from deployment, he left the British Army and received a commission from the Sunday Times to reshoot images of the Afghan people.
In 2011, he held his first solo exhibition, ‘The Best View of Heaven is from Hell’, at the Idea Generation Gallery in London. The exhibition featured photographs of Afghan police, their cultural idiosyncrasies, and images of the way they decorated their AK-47 rifles with roses and stickers. This exhibition later inspired Bran to create his AK-47 sculptures.
The photographs Bran took of young Afghanistan boys holding decorated AK47s with butterfly stickers and flowers; gave Bran the idea to embellish the assault rifle with money and butterflies.
During the tour in Afghanistan, Bran continued to capture images on his camera of the civilians he met along the way, collating images of the land and people - he vowed to himself he will create some inspiring art if he ever made it back to London.
He documented his life-changing experiences under gunfire with a simple Canon G9 camera, these significant images culminated in his first show “The Best View of Heaven is from Hell”.
AFGHANISTAN
The Sunday Times decided to commission Bran to go back to Afghanistan and re-shoot the images as a civilian photographer.
After being awarded the 2011 Amnesty International Media Award for his photograph “Lost Boys”, Symondson decided to develop the concept of his photographs further and he began to work on the sell-out show “AKA Peace”.
It was during his last tour of duty training the Afghan National Police (ANP), which now patrols this province, that Symondson became fascinated with the force’s distinctive ethos. So he returned as a civilian photographer “embedded” with them to document something far more unique than the endless fields of opium.
THE LAST TOUR
Symondson’s unique artworks of contemporary AK47 derive from a simple premise: taking something of fear and loathing and turning it into something of beauty and intrigue.
His pieces have been bought and collected internationally from the highly acclaimed artist Jake Chapman through to Elton John and the Prince of Bahrain.
Bran is also known for his philanthropic work not only in heightening the awareness of worldwide issues through his photographs but also in raising money for different charities through the donation of his AK47s at charity art auctions.
To date, he has raised more than £580,000 through his contributions.
Bran Symondson’s 2012 exhibition “AKA Peace” is considered to be a pivotal point in his artistic career. After his tour in Afghanistan, he established the concept of taking de-commissioned AK47 guns and masterfully embellishing them with dollar bills, iconography & butterflies.
He gave decommissioned AK47’s to artists such as Damien Hirst, Gavin Turk, Sam Taylor-Wood, Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume, Antony Gormley, and the Chapman brothers and asked them to reinterpret their own AK-47 assault rifles which were all exhibited in “AKA Peace”.
This critically acclaimed show raised more than £430,000 in one night.
AKA PEACE
