DAVID GARNEAU

Flags

2005 – 2010

Communities “rally around the flag.” People “fight for the flag.” It is a symbol of nation and collective identity. Flag/Flower paintings suggest that nations, like their flags, are made things, mutable and fragile. I worry about the dark side of nationalism, including Metis nationalisms—how we distort ourselves into conservative/traditional/uniform patterns in order to be recognizable.