As part of the Soft Series I made hand-sewn satin brass knuckles. On the inside there’s a lead rope filling, so the knuckles keep their shape. The photos above and below are available as prints on aluminum.
About the Soft Series in general:
The soft series are a series of weapons made of fabric, which I started in 2015 with a scale 1:1 replica of a Kalashnikov rifle. With these objects I want to search for the contrast between the original and current state of each weapon: harmful and deadly versus soft and totally useless, except for its visual beauty. All weapons are hand-sewn, this way I want to create a parallel between the designers and makers of the original weapons and the ones I am making now. It’s extremely difficult to design and create a well-functioning weapon and therefore it takes a lot of time, care and dedication to complete it. I also find it very interesting to see what kind of love-hate relationship some weapon designers had with their creations: Mikhail Kalashnikov, for example, felt extremely guilty for the last decades of his life because his deadly invention was just too successful. For him it was a continuous struggle with his conscience of what he had done.
Simple and elegant, these brass knuckles can be worn just as much as a fashion statement rather than a political one.
This work is made possible with the support of the Mondriaan Fund.
