We are proud to share that artist Pedro Reyes is the recipient of the ninth edition of the prestigious Luxembourg Peace Prize for outstanding activists and peacemakers. The artist's projects and initiatives to promote peace, which address current social and political issues, have earned him this award.
In Pedro Reyes' work, a socio-political critique of contemporary gun culture is addressed in Palas por Pistolas (2008), in which the artist worked, with the support of Fundación CIAC, with local authorities in Culiacán, Mexico, to melt down guns into shovels, intended to plant trees in cities elsewhere in the world. Similarly, in Disarm (2013) the Mexican government donated over 6,700 confiscated firearms for Reyes to transform into mechanical musical instruments, which are automated to play a delightful, if surreal loop, retaining the raw emotion of their origins.
The 2020 Luxembourg Peace Prize ceremony will take place on May 28th, 2021 as part of the 5th Annual Transatlantic Dialogue at the University of Luxembourg.
