The Southern Utah Museum of Art is drawing attention from around the world for it's new exhibition.
It’s not for its replicas of famous places of worship. Instead, it’s for the material used to build the replicas.
The churches displayed in the Divine Ammunition Exhibition are made out of bullets, triggers, ammunition boxes, BBs and gun stock.
"When you have weapons representing a religious institution…there is some connection in violence,” says artist Al Farrow.
Farrow says his hope is his art sparks curiosity.
“I'm hoping that that it can at least touch a life, so that people look at themselves and recognize where they where they stand in relation to these conflicts,” he says.
Farrow wanted to merge the worlds of religion and violence. He believes there’s a relationship between a religion being professed and violence that occurs, and it’s happening around the nation.
Many of these sculptures are large and weigh over 1,500 pounds.
"We had to squeeze in a forklift into the gallery so that we could actually lift some of these pieces,” says curator Jessica Farling.
But it’s the tiny details that catch you off guard.
"Most of them, all except the Islamic pieces, have objects in the interior,” Farrow says. “Usually use a Bible open to revelation."
Some buildings are replicas of real buildings like the Great Synagogue of Europe in Brussels.
"This definitely invites and invokes people to come back over and over and spend more time with each piece, and I mean, it's a lot to digest," Farling says.
