The MiG-21 Project
The Museum of Flight, Seattle, WA - June 21, 2025 – Jan 26, 2026
The MiG-21 Project by Ralph Ziman has its world premiere at The Museum of Flight on June 21. This audacious artwork—a decommissioned Soviet fighter jet sheathed in African patterns made up of tens of millions of hand-placed beads—is the final piece in Ziman’s epic antiwar cycle, Weapons of Mass Production Trilogy. The Cold War–era fighter, 51 feet long and 24 feet wide, will be displayed next to some of history’s most iconic aircraft at the 23-acre flight museum.
Born in South Africa in 1963, Ziman witnessed firsthand the brutal, dehumanizing effects of apartheid. After he moved to Los Angeles, his art was driven by awareness of the ongoing, violent destabilization of countries fueled by the multibillion-dollar global arms trade.
“The aim of The MiG-21 Project,” he said, “is to take the most mass-produced supersonic fighter aircraft and to turn it from a machine of war into something that looks beautiful, changes the meaning of it.” Witness a stunning symbol of liberation, cultural reclamation and resilience. It took 12 years and two teams, in Los Angeles and South Africa, to complete the trilogy, which deploys Indigenous beadwork in an expression of pre-colonial African identity.
For part 1, The AK-47 Project, Ziman collaborated with artisans in South Africa and Zimbabwe to design AK-47 assault rifles out of glass beads and wire. For part 2, The Casspir Project, his team transformed an 11-ton armored police vehicle with extraordinary beaded panels. For part 3, The
MiG-21 Project, his core collaborative crew–including Ndebele and Zulu beadworkers and artisans from South Africa and Zimbabwe–wove magic over five years to completely enrobe the combat jet in color and texture. Rounding out this spectacular exhibition are Afro-futuristic flight suits, large-scale photographs and videos.
