Peace is our profession

19 December 2007 in Art, Australia, Pictures by Brett Holman | 8 comments

B-52 peace symbol

I spotted this ironic fusion of a peace symbol and a B-52 in the city1 earlier in the year, and luckily it was still there when I went back with a camera this week.

B-52 peace symbol

It’s at the corner of Russell St and Bullens Lane. I assume it’s street art, and not anything to do with the bar advertised below it. No idea who is responsible for it, but well done, whoever it is!

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  1. That’s Melbourne, not London …
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  1. Liam Hogan’s avatar

    Liam Hogan on 19 December 2007 at 10:26 am

    I like it too, as a deterrence nerd myself.
    I suspect a few people don’t quite appreciate the nuclear history, though: try googling “Peace Through Superior Firepower” and reward yourself with mili-kitsch.

  2. Brett Holman’s avatar

    Brett Holman on 20 December 2007 at 3:59 pm

    When I saw it, I did think, “hey, is that where the peace symbol came from?” before doing a bit of googling and finding out that it’s from the semaphore for ND (as in CND as in nuclear disarmament). But a few people have obviously had the idea to juxtapose the two before, and the irony works both ways …

  3. Stina’s avatar

    Stina on 11 May 2008 at 4:37 am

    interesting, and artistically, very good looking.

  4. Brett Holman’s avatar

    Brett Holman on 11 May 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Yeah, wish I knew who did it!

  5. Brett Holman’s avatar

    Brett Holman on 20 June 2008 at 11:13 pm

    I walked past here today and it was gone :(

  6. Heynick’s avatar

    Heynick on 16 June 2009 at 11:03 pm

    I used the same juxtaposition in my poster “Give War A Chance” from 2003.

    One one the many Australian attempts to stop John Howard committing Australia to participation in the invasion of Iraq (which “wouldn’t turn out to be another Vietnam” and, apparently, still hasn’t.)

    At the time, I couldn’t imagine that someone hadn’t thought of it before but, as it was only a background element, I decided to include it anyway.

    I still think someone must have done it before. Probably in the sixties.

    See the poster here:
    http://www.heynick.com/posters/give-war-a-chance.htm

  7. Brett Holman’s avatar

    Brett Holman on 19 June 2009 at 1:00 am

    Yes, the angle of the B-52’s wings are just right for the peace symbol: it seems like a good candidate for independent invention.

  8. Namaste’s avatar

    Namaste on 31 July 2009 at 4:38 pm

    OT: Our current peace symbol is actually the death symbol. The correct symbol should be an inverted peace symbol, meaning the tree of life.

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