Study of a Flag, 2022-ongoing
firewood, wood-glue, metal nails
a Flag must be saluted when hoisted or lowered. it must be faced and handled with “care” and “respect”. although symbolic of a mass of Land, the national Flag must never come in touch with its soil or water, unless, when in need of retirement, it is buried inside of a wooden box as a form of disposal, and such, most decisively, must be done with no ceremony. a Flag must never be burned except when exhausted and “unfit” of symbolic representation. this act of incineration must be performed “respectfully” and in privacy. its ashes must be disposed of with “honour”, such as burying them under a tree.
Study of a Flag is interested in the contradictions in the choreography of flag etiquette. It has its starting point in my constant interrogation of my instilled regard of and posture in relation to the National Flag. being made of a material commercialized for the purpose of burning- while emulating the movement of a waving flag- this work implies the doing while never bringing it to action. through its material disruption, it semiotically studies the object and brings forward questions to the resting place of its symbology. does its significance rely on materiality or is it metaphysically sustained?