Flag of US is a response to the divisive rhetoric and acts going on in our nation: the talk of building walls, the bans and raids, the rising tensions that have led to violence. I invited people in my community who were feeling affected and marginalized and those who wanted to be of support to transform our American flag into a flag of US. It is inspired by the game of Musical Chairs—but in our version, no one is ever left out.
Participants brought food and musical instruments to share. Drawing supplies were provided. We met around a large table that had been painted to represent the American flag. There, we ate together, and then we drew each other’s faces—and faces on top of faces—to the stop-and-go rhythm of the emerging music we created together. The three languages that we all understand—food, drawing, and music—guided us through the process. The Impromptu Drawing is a meditation on unity and sharing in which we break down imaginary boundaries that divide us while we create together playfully. Join me in a nationwide collective effort to drown out the hateful rhetoric by creating more Flag of US.
watch Flag of US emerge! July – 33 sec
watch Flag of US emerge! March – 47 sec
The event/performance took place as a celebration of our beautiful diversity on our national holiday this past July in Asheville, NC. An earlier event took place in March in Fairview, NC
behind the scenes, prior to the collective play 1 min. 38 sec
2017 Performed and displayed at the Asheville Arts Council, Thom Robinson and Ray Griffin Exhibition Space at the Refinery Creator Space. Asheville, N.C.
2017 Created, performed and displayed at The Block OFF Biltmore, Asheville. N.C.
Are you interested in making a Flag of US in your community? Get in touch with me! It’s simple and beautiful to get together, create together, share, connect and in the process all of us collectively transform division into togetherness! Join me in this outrageous act of boundless unity!
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Visit also:
Impromptu Drawing of [US] : We Are *Almost All Immigrants
Flag of US – Why the Blue Faces?