Bullpup

In 2009 the Australian War Memorial commissioned eX de Medici to record the peacekeeping activities of the Australian Defence Force in the Solomon Islands as part of RAMSI (Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands).
Bullpup is part of a continuing series of works in which de Medici distinguishes rifles as a “species”. Here the standard Australian Army weapon, an F88 Austeyr, is overlaid with the microscopic structure of a moth. The telescopic sight on this rifle features the pelt of a moth found only in the Solomon Islands. As de Medici explains in her journal, “the Sol. moth is a relatively plain little thing, a pest species, a borer of nut trees. I thought a pest species relevant. The moth ‘pelt’ on the ’scope serves as part [of] the dialogue around the art of camouflage, something Nature operates with as part evolution, part survival.” This dialogue creates an evolutionary parallel between the natural world and rifles, simultaneously reinforcing the fragility and brutality of each.