INSIDE A GALLERY at a noted liberal arts college in a small southern Minnesota city, 20 identical shovels hang, evenly-spaced, along a beige wall. That may not seem impressive, until you read the story behind these tools.
These shovels were crafted from 1,527 guns surrendered in Culiacán, Mexico. Guns that were melted and made into 1,527 shovels used to plant 1,527 trees, including one at the corner of Union Street and Fourth Street East on the campus of Carleton College in Northfield.
Recently I stopped at this college campus to tour “Ahimsa,” an exhibition by Mexican artist Pedro Reyes in the galleries at The Perlman Teaching Museum inside the Weitz Center for Creativity. “Ahimsa” is a Sankritt word meaning “nonviolence.” That focuses this thought-provoking exhibit filling two gallery spaces.
With gun violence so prevalent in America, including right here in Minnesota with the political assassination of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June and the deadly August mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in south Minneapolis, I found Reyes’ exhibit profoundly relevant. I couldn’t help but think of the two Annunciation School children who were killed and the 27 other students and adults who were injured during morning Mass. Since then, voices have risen, loud and vocal, against gun violence. But thus far, nothing has changed, although discussion is ongoing with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz hosting town halls around the state on the topic.
The voice of this Mexican artist is among those rising. Upon entering the gallery, I read this: …Ahimsa reminds us that silence is complicity…
Reyes speaks out against more than gun violence in his exhibition. He also advocates for nuclear disarmament, another timely topic. And he does that in an artistically-mammoth way via a towering inflatable that overwhelms the high-ceilinged Braucher Gallery. Exactly the effect Reyes wants to make in his piece titled “Zero Nukes.”
I felt minimal, small, dwarfed by the mushroom cloud upon which ZERO NUCLEAR WEAPONS is printed in eight languages.
Nearby, a stockpile of inflatable nuclear warheads lies, another strong visual representing the nearly 14,000 nuclear warheads at the ready around the world. The statistics, cited as part of this display, are sobering, surprising (to me) and revealing.
Reyes, in his exhibit, shows us how art can be used to inform, educate, raise awareness, spark community conversation and action. He shows us via posters, buttons, sculptures, videos, inflatables and words how we can rise in protest against gun violence and nuclear weapons.
In the end we must ask ourselves the singular question posed in a poem on the protest poster wall: Where are you going? That’s in the event of nuclear war or similarly in the case of a mass shooting. I long ago stopped believing that the 1960s advice to duck and cover beneath a school desk would save me.
FYI: “Ahimsa” by Pedro Reyes is free and open to the public daily inside the Weitz Center for Creativity, 320 Third Street East, Northfield, until November 19. Hours vary. Click here for more information.
This exhibit was photographed with permission.
© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
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