The New York Times-20080127-Peace of a Wearable Kind

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Peace of a Wearable Kind

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LIKE her sister, the rapper M.I.A., Kali Arulpragasam, a jewelry designer in London, likes to make big political statements in her art. Her latest collection, called Terrorism Affects Tourism, is a series of breastplate necklaces that hang below the navel and celebrate positive aspects of war-torn nations.

There's more to these countries than guys with guns standing in rubble, said Ms. Arulpragasam, who fled Sri Lanka with her family 20 years ago. What are the plants like? What music are the kids listening to? That's what I wanted to show.

Images are hand-cut and plated together to create a mural in gold and silver: Haiti's depicts children playing soccer under banana trees; Sudan's shows cows and fishermen. Some customers, Ms. Arulpragasam said, have taken to hanging them on the wall. That's the irony of it, she mused. People are treasuring them, while the actual nations are being destroyed.

The necklaces, $800 to $1,000, can be custom-ordered from superfertile.com.

[Illustration]PHOTO (PHOTOGRAPHS BY JONATHAN PLAYER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)