glazed ceramic, iron, .22LR bullets; 18x12x13″
“In 2020, an estimated 8,500 children took part as soldiers in armed conflicts globally. Often coerced, sold, or kidnapped, child soldiers fight wars they do not comprehend. Inspired by my recollection of toy soldiers during childhood, this sculpture deliberately excludes the human form in favor of hinting at absence and loss. The rifle stands for violence they are made to inflict, while the teddy bear draws on their tenuous connection to a lost childhood.”
ARTIST BIO: First-generation American, Kyle Christoph Salandy (b. 1991, Brooklyn, New York) was raised in Southeastern Pennsylvania with roots in Trinidad and Tobago. Currently pursuing dual degrees at the University of Cincinnati to earn both a Master of Fine Arts and a Master of Arts in Art Education. A ceramics artist, he explores identity, cultural history, and resilience through dramatic figurative forms, vessels, and altars based on pan-African spiritual worldviews, ancestral memories, and ritual aesthetics