BANG.
BANG. examines how the mythology of the gun in America begins not with confrontation, but with childhood. Toy guns, television, films, and video games introduce violence as ritualized play—bright, theatrical, and consequence-free. Stories of the taming of the West and the lone protector reinforce narratives of self-determination, autonomy, and moral authority.
Within this cultural framework, the gun appears first as symbol before it is understood as instrument. It becomes absorbed through repetition, familiarity, and identification, shaping psychological associations long before conscious examination.
Humor operates as a point of entry, revealing how deeply these narratives are embedded. What begins as play gradually settles into identity. The works trace this progression, examining how cultural inheritance transforms fiction into structure, and symbol into self.
