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    Five Years in the Making, an MiG-21 Fighter Jet Gets a Glow-Up from Tens of Millions of Glass Beads

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    Photo by Mauricio Hoyos. All images courtesy of Ralph Ziman, shared with permission

    Five Years in the Making, an MiG-21 Fighter Jet Gets a Glow-Up from Tens of Millions of Glass Beads

    April 15, 2025

    ArtHistorySocial Issues

    Kate Mothes

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    “We’re going to make stuff out of beads that is going to take people’s breath away,” says Ralph Ziman in the trailer for “The MiG-21 Project,” a military jet that he and a transcontinental team coated nose to tail in millions upon millions of glass beads.

    For the past 12 years, the Los Angeles-based artist has examined the impacts of the Cold War Era and the global arms trade through a trilogy titled Weapons of Mass Production, motivated by his upbringing in Apartheid-era South Africa. More than half a decade in the making, “The MiG-21 Project” completes the series.

    The first installment, “The AK-47 Project,” reimagined the aesthetic of one of the world’s most ubiquitous wartime weapons, the Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947, by coating dozens of the guns in colorful glass beads. The second project revolved around the Casspir, a heavy-duty Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle (MRAPV) introduced in the 1970s, which he likewise ornamented in vibrant geometric patterns.

    “The idea was to take these weapons of war and to repurpose them,” Ziman says, flipping the narrative about icons of violence and transforming them instead into symbols of resilience, collaboration, and collectivity. Vehicles and firearms morph into a theater of hope and strength in the face of a terrible 20th-century legacy.

    Apartheid, which in Afrikaans means “separateness,” is the name assigned by the minority white-ruled Nationalist Party of South Africa to a harsh system of racial segregation that began in 1948. The period lasted until 1991 and was closely linked within the context of international relations to the Cold War as tensions erupted between the U.S. and the former U.S.S.R. Spurred by the deterioration of the two countries’ WWII alliance and fears about the spread of Communism into the West, the war began in 1947 and also ended in 1991 when the U.S.S.R. was dissolved.

    During this time, the Russians produced a fighter jet called the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21. The plane is “the most-produced supersonic fighter aircraft of all time,” Ziman says. “The Russians built 12,500 MiG-21s, and they’re still in use today—just like the Casspir and just like the AK-47s. But it’s one thing to say, hey, I want to bead a MiG, and then the next thing, you’ve got a 48-foot MiG sitting in your studio.”

    The MiG-21 cockpit

    “The MiG-21 Project” combines photography and costume design with historical research and time-honored Indigenous craft. The project encompasses not only the jet but a series of cinematic photographs and elaborate Afrofuturist regalia inspired by military flight suits, African tribal textiles, and space travel.

    Ziman’s team comprises numerous skilled artisans from Zimbabwe and Indigenous Ndebele women from South Africa’s Mpumalanga Province, who are renowned for their beadwork. For the Ndebele, beadwork is a means of expressing cultural identity and rites of passage, taking on powerful political connotations in the 20th century as it became associated with pre-colonial African traditions and identity.

    Tapping into the lessons of our not-so-distant past, Ziman addresses current conflicts like war and the global arms race, modern colonialism, systemic racism, and white supremacy through the lens of Apartheid. Funds raised throughout the process, part of the mission of the Weapons of Mass Production trilogy as a whole, are being donated to the people of Ukraine in support of the country’s ongoing conflict with Russia.

    You’ll be able to see the “The MiG-21 Project” later this year in Seattle, where it will be on view from June 21 to January 26, 2026, at the Museum of Flight. Explore more on Ziman’s website.

    Photo by Mauricio Hoyos

    Photo by Mauricio Hoyos

    “Hero Of Cuito Cuanavale,” Inkjet on Moab Entrada paper, 43 x 56 inches

    Photo by Mauricio Hoyos

    Detail of the MiG-21 cockpit

    Photo by Mauricio Hoyos

    “The Raider and Her MiG-21,” Inkjet on Moab Entrada paper, 43 x 56 inches

    Photo by Mauricio Hoyos

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      in Art

      A Vibrant Ndebele Mural by Esther Mahlangu Illuminates Unity at Serpentine North

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      “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” (2024), Serpentine North Garden. Photo by George Darrell. Image courtesy of Serpentine and The Melrose Gallery, shared with permission

      A Vibrant Ndebele Mural by Esther Mahlangu Illuminates Unity at Serpentine North

      October 10, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      For more than eight decades, Dr. Esther Mahlangu has been creating large-scale, site-specific works that draw on the artistic traditions of Ndebele culture.

      Known for her vibrant, patterned compositions, Mahlangu learned techniques for decorating houses from her mother and grandmother while growing up in South Africa. She mixes natural pigments with clay, soil, and cow dung to paint directly on the exteriors of structures in her village.

      Photo by George Darrell

      Ndebele house painting emerged in the mid-18th century when the matrilineal tribe began to build huts out of mud rather than grass. Women applied colorful patterns to the walls to not only brighten the village but also communicate with others.

      The geometric shapes, characterized by bold, black outlines, serve as a visual language to express personal values, prayers, or major life events.

      Mahlangu paints by hand without using stencils or masking tape, employing chicken feathers and various brushes to create painstaking geometries that preserve a handmade quality. Over time, she has also created numerous works on canvas, using acrylic to broaden the range of hues in her work.

      Esther Mahlangu photographed by Clint Strydom, courtesy of The Melrose Gallery

      At Serpentine North in Hyde Park, London, Mahlangu’s first installation the U.K. was unveiled this week on a wall in the gallery’s garden.

      Comprising six wooden panels, the monumental mural celebrates unity and community and taps into an Ndebele philosophy: “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu,” which translates to: “I am because you are.”

      The mural remains on view through September 28, 2025. Plan your visit on the Serpentine website, and learn more about Mahlangu’s remarkable work and career on her website and Instagram.

      Photo by Clint Strydom, courtesy of The Melrose Gallery

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      in Street Art

      “Corridors of Hope” by Sonny in Cape Town, South Africa

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      Internationally renowned artist, Sonny, is known for using his creative voice to raise awareness for important environmental issues, with his latest mural shining a light on wildlife corridors as an innovative conservation approach that is bringing hope to the Cape leopard and other endangered wildlife.

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      “For me, this Cape leopard is a symbol of hope, as people are waking up to new ways of approaching conservation that are less about fencing off wildlife in nature reserves, and more about adapting our world to allow animals and humans to safely and peacefully co-exist. We humans are not above nature, we are part of it.” – Sonny

      Sonny’s new mural, painted in Cape Town as part of the Baz-Art International Public Art, depicts a beautiful Cape leopard and responds to the festival theme of ‘100% Sustainable’. Leopards and other wildlife are being forced into ever smaller areas due to human encroachment on their natural territories. This has led to inbreeding, which can have detrimental long-term effects on the species ability to thrive (and even survive), as genetic diversity improves overall health and resilience.
      Through his beautifully detailed artwork, Sonny opens up a conversation around the development and use of wildlife corridors as a way to link nature reserves to other protected areas as a way to encourage genetic diversity within wildlife populations. 

      “The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the unintended impacts that disrupting natural ecosystems can have on human health. Even more of a reason to work towards stitching together disjointed ecosystems for the sake of wildlife and humans alike!”

      Urban contemporary artist, Sonny has become most well-known for his majestic and intricate large-scale wildlife murals that are scattered across the globe.  His unique style of art blends realism with abstract colouring and has quickly seen him gain notoriety within the street art world.  His passion for using his creative voice to raise awareness for important societal and environmental issues has also built him a reputation for being an engaged artist, driven by a desire make an impact.
      He had created impactful murals in far-reaching places such as New York, London, Canada, Russia, Miami, Ireland, Amsterdam and South Africa.
      Scroll down below for more photos of “Corridors of Hope”. More

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      in Street Art

      “Beyond Walls” by SAYPE in Cape Town, South Africa

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      In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as South Africa is in the international spotlight, French-Swiss artist Saype chooses to present a fraternal vision in three neighbourhoods in Sea Point, in the city of Cape Town. The current crisis reinforces Saype’s optimistic will to present these universal frescos of benevolence and togetherness.

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      Three frescoes were created using approximately 1000 liters of biodegradable pigments made out of charcoal, chalk, water and milk proteins. The “Beyond Walls” project aims at creating the largest symbolic human chain around the world.

      In Cape Town this step was motivated by the country’s persisting need for reunification. Three frescoes representing widely different populations and realities within the city were created in Sea Point (6000 Sq. m), the Philippi township (800 Sq. m) and the Langa township (800 Sq. m).
      Cape Town, warmly known as the Mother City, represents the ninth stage of the global artistic project “Beyond Walls” initiated by Saype in June 2019 in Paris. South Africa is a country rich in culture and ethnic diversity bound by the spirit of Ubuntu (togetherness). In these unprecedented times, and while the whole world battles the effects and impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, increased political polarization and economic hardships, this spirit of Ubuntu is exactly what is needed. Striving to recover from the dark time of apartheid, South Africa constitutes a crucial milestone for “Beyond Walls”.

      The gigantic painted hands symbolize the reconciliation, a pillar of Nelson Mandela’s ethos. They intertwine beyond inequalities, created in fundamentally different areas of the city.  Saype hopes that art may be a modest contribution to reunite a city whose historic scars have not yet healed.
      This step is carried out in fruitful collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland in South Africa, the International Public Art Festival, Baz-Art and the City of Cape Town.

      Self-taught, Saype is known today for his paintings on grass, made with eco-responsible paint. Certainly one of the most publicized artists in 2019, he was notably named by the famous magazine Forbes as one of the thirty most influential personalities under the age of thirty in the world, in the field of art and Culture.
      Check out below for more images of SAYPE’s “Beyond Walls”.

      Photo credits: Valentin Flauraud More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Street Art

      Pilpeled in Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa

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      Israeli graphic designer and artist Pilpeled just finished his brand new piece in Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa. Pilpeled was one of the artists that were involved in producing murals for this year’s International Public Art Festival in South Africa. Pilpeled has become one of the most notable forces in the Israeli Urban art scene. In […] More