Bran Baxter-Symondson is considered to be one of the finest reportage photographers of the 21st Century. He began his career working alongside renowned photographers such as Gavin Bond, David La Chapelle and Nadav Kander. During this period he joined the UK Special Forces and was immediately called up for a tour in Afghanistan. He documented his life-changing experiences under gunfire with a simple Canon G9 camera, these significant images culminated in his first show “The Best View of Heaven is from Hell”
Bran Baxter-Symondson’s 2012 exhibition “AKA Peace” is considered to be a pivotal point in his artistic career. After his tour in Afghanistan, he established the concept of taking de-commissioned AK47 guns and masterfully embellishing them with dollar bills, iconography & butterflies. He gave decommissioned AK47’s to artists such as Damien Hirst, Gavin Turk, Sam Taylor-Wood, Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume, Antony Gormley and the Chapman brothers and asked them to reinterpret their own AK-47