reclaimed supersonic MiG-21 fighter jet radiates again with ralph ziman’s colorful glass beads

a five-year project, the beaded supersonic aircraft is set to debut at the museum of flight in seattle, starting june 21st, 2025.

matthew burgos April 16, 2025 4 min

ralph ziman’s colorful beadwork revive soviet-designed aircraft

South African artist Ralph Ziman revives a reclaimed MiG-21 fighter jet by covering it with millions of colorful glass beads. It has taken the artist a total of five years to complete his multidisciplinary installation, which is set to debut at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, starting June 21st, 2025. The exhibition project forms part of the artist’s Weapons of Mass Destruction series. Before the Soviet-designed supersonic aircraft, he has also applied vibrant glass beads to a Casspir military vehicle as well as wired sculptures of AK-47 assault rifles.

For the MiG-21 fighter jet, his hand-applied colorful glass beads completely cover the fuselage, wings, and tail surfaces. They create a uniform skin over the jet’s original structure, giving the once utilitarian aircraft a bright, beaded makeover. Ralph Ziman’s geometric precision, surface texture, and dense patterning appear evident in the project. It results in a fully transformed Soviet-designed and Cold War-era aircraft, shimmering in colors.

Museum of flight exhibits vibrant mig-21 fighter jet

Visitors to the exhibition at The Museum of Flight, which runs between June 21st, 2025 and January 26th, 2026, can even look inside the art-turned MiG-21 fighter jet by Ralph Ziman. Alongside the aircraft, the show features original art objects connected to the project’s design. These include flight suits fabricated by the artist and his team.

The suits are based on the silhouette of traditional pilot gear, all the while incorporating the same beaded aesthetic, along with Afrofuturist design elements. They serve as wearable extensions of the aircraft’s new surface treatment. There are also videos and photographs on view, documenting the reworking of the beaded MiG-21 fighter jet.

From fighter aircraft to a work of art

The museum also installs new exhibits detailing the jet’s original history. Archival material outlines the aircraft’s design and its use during the Cold War, along with examples of how military airframes like the MiG-21 have been repurposed for civilian or artistic uses after their retirement from service. Ralph Ziman says that the aim of the MiG-21 fighter jet project 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.’