Art is ultimately about a process of transformation, and Guns in the Hands of Artists makes that case through the passion and conviction of its artists. Beginning with the pile-up of homicides on the mean streets of New Orleans, this book and the exhibition it documents end up making a potent argument for handing artists the opportunity to turn the instruments of our pain and bewilderment into objects of awareness and hope. These are not prescriptions for future laws, but rather blueprints for wielding the power of the artistic imagination to fully confront our waking nightmares.