(1996)
Bradley McCallum, a graduate art student at Yale University at the time, collaborated with Hartford Hospital’s Injury Prevention Center, the Hartford Police Department, and the Wadsworth Atheneum to create a public art installation in response to the problem of gun violence.
The artist gathered testimony from youth directly impacted by gun violence, parents who survived their child’s death, and doctors and nurses working in the trauma ward in Hartford. The resulting public intervention consisted of a large-scale installation of sculpture, sound, and text.
At the center of the project was a public audio installation framed by a series of 228 manhole covers made from 11,194 melted guns that had been confiscated by local law enforcement. After the exhibition closed, the manhole covers were installed on streets throughout Hartford becoming part of the fabric of the city as permanent and functional public artworks.
Produced by Conjunction Arts in collaboration with The Childhood Injury Prevention Center of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT.
This artistic intervention was supported through Conjunction Arts fiscal sponsorship program and funded by the New Arts Partnerships for Stronger Communities Initiative of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Additional funding was provided by Mayor Mike Peters’ Companies for Kids Program, The Greater Hartford Arts Council, and an individual artist’s grant, under the New Forms category from the New England Foundation for the Arts.
Corporate support was generously provided by Hartford Hospital, Kaiser Permanente, The Savannah, Northeast Utilities, Dexter Corp., Pepe & Hazard, LeBaron Foundry, Inc., Alert Inc., Capitol Light, Chapin & Bangs, and Stanley Wiesen Inc. Special thanks to The Honorable Mike Peters, Mayor of Hartford; Paul Shipman, Executive Assistant to the Mayor; Larry Gasse, President of LeBaron Foundry; Mickey Cartin of Capitol Light Inc.
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