The Pledge of Allegiance

By pairing phrases from The Pledge of Allegiance with complicated images of US flag, this work asks us in the US to find our way back to being United States where we work together for a more perfect union.

This project’s goal is to create a space where people from the divided communities in the US are drawn together by using something that we hold as belonging to each of us and thus, creating a common ground.  The theme is us, with a capital ‘U.S.’ My interest in this project comes from the desire to find our way back to being United States where we work together for a more perfect union. I seek to create an experience where people interact with the images and have discussion with the art,  within themselves, and/or with others.

Making these images in monochrome allows the image of our flag to demonstrate the necessity of the gray areas to the understanding of the full image. Our political environment locally and nationally could benefit from this metaphoric understanding. 

Political attitudes and slogans make the issues of our time absolutes: right or left, black or white, urban or rural. To see the whole picture of who we are as a nation, the places where the absolutes blend -- the gray areas – must be embraced. Surrendering, rigid, narrow thinking makes room for new information and the ability to see a bigger picture. Entering into gray areas between the extremes offers freedom and flexibility to make new decisions with the new information gained by seeing more completely.