SEATTLE, WA.- The Museum of Flight’s major new exhibit for 2025 opened June 21 with the world premiere of The MiG-21 Project, South African artist Ralph Ziman’s 5-year, multidisciplinary project transforming a 51-foot by 24-foot decommissioned Cold War era, Soviet-designed MiG-21 fighter jet into a stunning work of art, entirely covered in tens of millions of colorful glass beads. The re-imagined jet turns an icon of violence into a symbol of resilience and collaboration, and is the centerpiece of the exhibit, which will be on view until Jan. 26, 2026.

The MiG-21 Project is the culmination of Ziman’s Weapons of Mass Production Trilogy, a 12-year project inspired by the artist’s experiences growing up in Apartheid South Africa and produced by teams on two continents—Ziman and his team in Los Angeles in collaboration with Southern African beadwork artisans. Together, they addressed the impact of the arms trade on global conflicts and the continued militarization of police forces around the world, and responded by turning symbols of oppression into works of art that inspire a reflection on history and current conflicts.

“The aim of The MiG-21 Project,” said Ziman, “is to take the most mass-produced supersonic fighter aircraft and to turn it from a machine of war into something that looks beautiful and changes the meaning of it.”

The exhibit marks the first public display of the reclaimed jet, and three rooms of the Museum’s Special Exhibits Gallery have been transformed to visualize the historical depth of the The MiG-21 Project and the Weapons of Mass Production Trilogy. The gallery experience includes original artwork, Afrofuturistic flight suits designed and crafted by the artist and his team, large scale photographs, videos, and interactives. New materials from The Museum of Flight detail the history of MiG-21 aircraft, the Cold War, and how other military aircraft—some held in the Museum’s collection—have been repurposed for civilian duties.

The Museum of Flight will also offer special programming and family events in conjunction with the exhibit. The exhibit is free for Museum Members and included with admission.

Weapons of Mass Production Trilogy

Ziman’s collaborative Trilogy blends history, social awareness, cultural appreciation, and the healing power of creativity by celebrating the rich tradition of Southern African beadwork, used by indigenous South African people to communicate cultural and social messages through intricate patterns and colors.

In the first part of the Trilogy, The AK-47 Project (2013 - 2017), Ziman worked with skilled artisan collaborators from South Africa and Zimbabwe to create replicas of AK-47 assault rifles, using only glass beads and wire. After decades of use by anti-colonial and anti-apartheid movements in the struggle against oppressive regimes, the powerful weapon has come to be associated with liberation and self-determination.

In Part Two, The Casspir Project (2015 - 2018), Ziman and his team used hand-beaded panels to transform an 11-ton Apartheid-era Casspir armored police vehicle. The beaded vehicle, SPOEK 1, was taken to former Apartheid Soweto, a township outside of Johannesburg, where the 1976 uprising against Apartheid began. In Soweto, The Casspir Project team worked with local residents and staged a dramatic series of photographs inspired by photojournalism of the 1980s-90s.

Finally, The MiG-21 Project expanded Ziman’s vision to an even larger format, and the fearsome fighter jet’s surface became an artistic canvas to inspire thought, reflection, and imagination.