Flag 10

CANTON (Stars)

Wedding Party - Hudson, New York

Footprints gathered as guests danced at a wedding reception.

FIELD (Stripes)

Border Walking Bridge - El Paso, Texas

Footprints from people crossing the border bridge from the U.S. into Mexico.

CANTON DETAIL

CANTON STORY

This section was created on the dance floor at a wedding in Hudson, New York. The day of the wedding was incredibly hot but as the evening progressed rain moved in and it poured as people moved to the dance floor. The wedding took place in a large venue without walls that protected everyone from the rain but felt very open. The marks on the flag include a lot of movement from people dancing as well as an insect that got caught under someones shoe.

FIELD DETAIL

FIELD STORY

This section of the flag was created at one of the border walking bridges in El Paso, Texas. I actually collected marks at the bridge two different times - one from people crossing into Mexico (this one) and one from people crossing into the U.S (collected the next morning). It was much easier to get people to step on the plywood when crossing into Mexico. My Spanish is horrible so I wasn’t great at explaining what I was doing but many of the people were happy to step on the plywood that I was pointing to. When people were coming into the U.S. they were much more cautious and hesitant to even make eye contact. It took me a much longer time to get enough footprints to adequately cover the plywood in footprints. It was really interesting to see how people acted differently depending on the direction that they were going.

I tried to collect footprints in the very center of the bridge where armed guards are stationed but they wouldn’t let me. I asked one of the guards and he said he couldn’t do it but also said that he thought it was a cool project and that he wished he could help me out. He said that his superiors wouldn’t let him participate.