Solo exhibition · HOFA Gallery · 2021
The Art to Disarm
Bran’s first UK solo show in a decade: photographs, memorabilia and sculpture, from the front line to the gallery.
House of Fine Art, Mayfair, London · 25 November – 9 December 2021
In November 2021, House of Fine Art presented The Art to Disarm, Bran’s first solo exhibition in the UK since 2011 and the first to bring his whole body of work together.
The show traced his path from soldier to photographer to sculptor. It looked back at Afghanistan, where he served in 2008 and returned as a photographer embedded with the Afghan National Police in 2010, and set that experience alongside the AK-47 sculptures it inspired.
Revisiting the archive
The fall of Afghanistan in 2021 prompted Bran to return to his archive. As former army friends got in touch, he went back through his photographs and found many small moments he had forgotten. The exhibition included memorabilia from his service and photographs from both periods, alongside new works.
The art to disarm
At the centre of the show was the transformation that defines his practice: taking objects of fear and violence and, through painstaking handwork and symbolic materials, giving them a new story. The title became the name of his practice from then on.
The exhibition
In the press
The Art to Disarm · HOFA Gallery, London · 2021