Re:Loaded

On 16 December 2023, the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds opened Re:Loaded, the first time in its history that the national museum of arms and armour had collaborated with an artist on an exhibition.

Orchestrated by Nat Edwards, Director General and Master of the Armouries, the exhibition placed Bran’s AK-47 sculptures alongside historic weapons from the collection, including a gold-plated AK-47 from the estate of Saddam Hussein.

Can a weapon be disarmed?

The setting gave the work a new context. Shown within a collection that spans centuries of warfare, the sculptures invited visitors to consider how weapons carry histories, the relationship between a weapon and the person who holds it, and whether art can change what an object means. The museum was clear that the show was not about glorifying guns.

Works on display included Lost Innocence, photographed for The Yorkshire Post at the exhibition’s opening.