Project Discussion Points
No one group owns the American flag
Each flag is constructed using marks from two different groups and/or locations in America. This highlights the diversity of the people and places that make up America and that no one group can claim to “own” American identity.
Who’s American? A lot of very different people are American. Who do I think of as American?
What groups do or don’t fit into my American identity?
We’re each responsible for America’s identity
These flags are made up of the marks that people have left behind – not best intentions, not idealized versions of self, not carefully constructed narratives – just the marks that people left behind in their daily lives. Each of us are rewriting America’s identity every day through our actions – big and small, important and insignificant, purposeful and accidental.
How are my actions affecting America’s identity?
America is better when we’re together
Each of these flags represents an American identity built from marks made by different people groups. It’s the combination of different and sometimes disparate groups that makes them interesting both aesthetically and conceptually. It’s that diversity that makes America such an amazing country.
How am I engaging with those different than me to make America better?
Going there matters
Going to the different places necessary to gather the marks for these flags changed how I felt about those places. Taking the time to inhabit someone else’s space shifts your perspective. It helps you to understand things in a new way and communicates to the people in that space that you value their perspective enough to take the time to experience it.
Besides my own space, where do I go to experience others’ perspectives?
Are there places that I have opinions about that I haven’t explored for myself?
We’re separated
These flags are presented with a gap between the canton (stars) and the field (stripes) in order to represent how divided we are as a country. In America we are separated politically (we have a highly polarized two-party system), spatially (we are a huge country that’s very different depending on where you are living), culturally (we are a mixing pot of different cultures from all over the world).
How does my understanding of American identity separate me from other people in America?
Am I making America more or less separated?
Lots of people are patriotic
Creating these flags exposed me to a lot of different people, and those people exposed me to a lot of different forms of American patriotism. Many of the people I encountered through this project held very different beliefs about America but they were still very devoted to and supportive of their country.
What does my version of American patriotism look like?
Who should get to define American patriotism?