Iconic Banksy Images recreated for Arms Treaty

News photographer Nick Stern has recreated two of Banksy's iconic street art pieces to support Oxfam's campaign to regulate the arms trade. The United Nations conference on the Arms Trade is taking place in New York this month and the Control Arms coalition is calling for the creation of a proper International Arms Trade Treaty.

The first depicts a scene from Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. The second is of a child soldier.

There are currently more regulations governing the trade of bananas than there are of guns.

More than 250,000 children have been used as child soldiers throughout the world.

Mr Stern, who splits his time between London and LA, said: “As a photographer I've seen the misery armed conflict causes, in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. I wholeheartedly support a treaty that can save thousands from the horrors of armed violence and conflict.

“In recent years we've seen thousands of news images of more and more women, children and civilians whose lives have been ended or ripped apart by armed conflict.

“War is no longer the preserve of well trained, tactical military personnel, it has spread into every area of society. The people taking up arms are farmers, engineers, builders and students, and lives are being blighted or ended.

“The ease at which ordinary people can obtain weapons is adding to this misery. This Arms Trade Treaty can make a real difference, it's not the politics or the economics that's important, it’s the lives of thousands of people each day that matter.”