Note: This was the text written on request to accompany Mercy Pictures’ show ‘People of Colour’, Auckland, October 16th – November 7th, 2020. I had no role in the conception or production of the show, but I fully support the artists of Mercy Pictures, and defend the right of all artists everywhere to make work freely. Without freedom of expression we are lost.
A flag is a piece of material, stuck to a wall, hoisted on a flag-pole. From a scientific standpoint, a flag, any flag, is nothing, just a scrap of cloth. In this sense, then, flags are silly. To care about flags is to expose oneself as vulnerable to a certain symbolic dominance. To pledge allegiance to a flag, any flag, unless done under duress, out of a cultural habit, is a strange move in a world shimmering, exploding with floating signifiers. What differentiates a McDonalds sign from the Stars and Stripes? Why not kneel outside a Dunkin’ Donuts instead? What is capitalism’s flag – all of the banners flapping outside consumer huts strewn across the world, perhaps?
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