The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) reaffirms its commitment to the safety of Los Angeles County residents and the art community by assisting in the contribution of thousands of weapons confiscated within Los Angeles County. These weapons will be used as a part of the Peace Angels Project. Bridging contemporary art with meaningful change, Artist and Founder Lin Evola will use the weapons to create twelve, 11-foot Peace Angel monuments placed in community and cultural areas throughout Los Angeles.
“The wonderful honor to be invited to receive this stockpile of weapons is the culmination of over two decades of working closely with the LASD,” said Evola. “The Peace Angels Project USA Weapons Destruction Campaign mission is to remove weapons from our streets and use them as a beautiful symbol of our future.”
The contributed stockpile includes handguns, rifles and automatic weapons collected in criminal investigations, probation seizures and guns turned in by citizens at collection events.
“As Sheriff, I am honored to continue my Department’s participation in this great endeavor,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva. “We are extremely proud to assist in this contribution to the Peace Angels Project during such a heightened period of gun violence. The LASD is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our communities and hopes this contribution will serve as a symbol of union between our local law enforcement agencies and our community members.”
The contribution marks the beginning stages of the first Peace Angel monument in Los Angeles, with 11 subsequent installations to follow. It is the artist’s intention for the monument to be sited in a prominent site in downtown Los Angeles.
Weapons which once were purposed to destroy life are transformed into Peace Angel Monuments of various sizes, including Peace Angel monuments that will rise to heights of more than six stories. The impact of Evola’s work is profound, as is evidenced by her 11-foot Renaissance Peace Angel Monument which is in the permanent collection of the National September 11 Memorial Museum and has been on display at the Museum since the autumn of 2018.
About the Peace Angels Project
In 1992, Lin Evola founded the Peace Angels Project to address the epidemic of violence by reminding us of the responsibilities we all share to create a better world. As an American contemporary Artist, Evola created the Peace Angels Project as a conceptual work of art to engage thought that is meant to stir us – to awaken us to rise up and build a life affirming legacy of Peace in our time. The concept that develops into Peace Angel monuments forwards a legacy of peace to our children and future generations.
