The paintings in Confluence (working title), depict composited national flags based on a range of parameters — from all the flags of the 241 recognized nations on the Earth to a flag representing all the countries I have called home to date. The flags are merged to create one polychromatic, amalgamated flag, simultaneously representing all nations together. In an age of increased isolationism, fanaticism and reactive nationalism, the work fuses the nationalistic emblems and heraldry in an attempt to find commonality, multiplicity and uniqueness amongst our differences.
The abstracted design, as well as shared and opposing graphic elements of the flags, confuse and distort any simplistic national ensign and understanding. This project is targeted at blurring the boundaries of nationalism to expose the complexities of immigration and globalism and proposes an emblem to join populations together rather than increase separation.
All My Father's Wars (study), watercolor, gouache and colored pencil on paper, 12"x16", 2017
All My Various Homes(study), watercolor, gouache and colored pencil on paper, 12"x16", 2017
All the Nations of the Earth
Still from All the Nations of the Earth (working title)
2017
Single channel HD Video
Full duration: 80 mins looped
This video depicts a paced compositing of all the flags of 241 nations on the Earth joining to create one polychromatic, amalgamated flag, simultaneously representing all nations. In an age of increased isolationism, fanaticism and reactive nationalism, the work fuses the nationalistic emblems and heraldry in an attempt to find commonality, multiplicity and uniqueness amongst our differences. The soundtrack is a recording from the voyager spacecraft as it listened in on the sounds created by and around the Earth as it traveled though our solar system and into deep space. The flags are inserted in alphabetical order using the ISO basic Latin alphabet.* The entire video runs on a loop for 80 mins.
*The ISO basic Latin alphabet is a Latin-script alphabet and consists of two sets of 26 letters, codified in various national and international standards and used widely in international communication.