WHITE FLAGS, started 2020
The White Flags and Universal Values series both collect and transcribe equations which, even as they seem mathematically wrong, correspond to real-life exchanges. Crafted from the two opposing forces of a weave—one horizontal and one vertical—each White Flag accounts for a prisoner swap. The loom which intertwines this data together in this inherently labor-intensive, flawed, and irregular process, is incidentally called a “war machine (război) in Romanian. In these human-scale textiles, the nationalities involved in each exchange are only hinted to via fragments of newspaper and press clippings occasionally interwoven through the flag, further disturbing the regularity of the weave while letting the viewer experiment with their own geopolitical bias depending on whether or not they can relate to one side of the equation or another.
White Flags (2022: U.S.-American vs. Russian), 2020/2023
Cotton and wool hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 122 x 63 cm | Pole: 200 x 70 cm
White Flags (2011: Israeli vs. Palestinian, Ukrainian, Jordanian & Syrian), 2020/2023
Cotton and wool hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 209 x 68 cm | Pole: 230 x 70 cm
White Flags (2021: Chinese vs. Canadian), 2020/2024
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 126 x 64 cm | Pole: 200 x 74 cm
White Flags (2022: Russian & Ukrainian vs. Ukrainian, British, Moroccan, US-American, Croatian & Swedish), 2020/2024
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 209 x 66 cm | Pole: 230 x 76 cm
White Flags (2020: Iranian vs. Australian), 2020/2024
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 118 x 64 cm | Pole: 200 x 74 cm
White Flags (2020: French, Italian & Malian vs. Malian), 2020/2024
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 186 x 69 cm | Pole: 220 x 76 cm
White Flags (2019: Iranian vs. U.S.-American), 2020/2024
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 125 x 62 cm | Pole: 200 x 72 cm
White Flags (1985: Polish, East German & Bulgarian vs. Undisclosed European), 2020/2025
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 156 x 65 cm | Pole: 210 x 72 cm
White Flags (1978: U.S.-American vs. U.S.-American vs. Israeli), 2020/2025
Cotton, wool and newspaper hand-woven on loom (război)
Flag: 177 x 68 cm | Pole: 220 x 75 cm
