Flags

A series of objects featuring white fabric hand embroidered with red thread. They feature transcriptions of song lyrics, children’s poems and counting-out rhymes, and sayings. The flags were created in collaboration with different groups of people over several days of open, performative workshops held in urban or gallery spaces.

So far, five flags have been created:

Flag No. 1 was embroidered with the lyrics of Marlene Dietrich’s song Lili Marlene, which is said to have been banned on the radio during WWII because it cooled the spirits of German soldiers. The song tells the story of love and the parting of a couple of lovers dancing in the light of a street light. Embroidery in German. Flag No. 1 was created as part of the German-Polish, Kraków-Nuremberg cooperation. Nuremberg House Kraków, Kraków House, Nuremberg.

Flag No. 2 was embroidered with the lyrics of the Balqees Ahmed Fathi song. It is a dance music cover of a traditional Yemeni song telling the story of a sparrow looking for love in the spring. The embroidery is in Arabic. Flag No. 2 was created in cooperation with Polish female Muslim converts from the Muslim Center in Poznań and Polski Theatre as part of the Bliscy Nieznajomi/Close Strangers festival.

Flag No. 3 was embroidered with the lyrics of the song Money by Pink Floyd. It was created in cooperation with the artist’s parents, who are emigrants and live in the UK. During the process of embroidering the flag, a documentary video about the personal economic and social experiences of life in Poland and the UK was created. The creation of embroidery took place in the home of the artist’s parents, after dinner. Lancaster, UK.

Flag No. 4 has been embroidered with the lyrics of Lithuanian folk songs, counting-out rhymes, and sayings about Lithuanian-Polish relations. The embroidery is in Lithuanian. Flag No. 4 was created in cooperation with Polish and Lithuanian women living in Vilnius.  During the course of embroidering the flag, a video documenting the process of work, text selection, and personal, often difficult relationships between Poles and Lithuanians was shot. Created in collaboration with Łaźnia Center for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk and Artifex Gallery, Vilnius as part of Vilnius Gallery Weekend.

Flag No. 5 is a theatrical performance in the form of an embroidery workshop. The flag was embroidered in Polish with people living and working in Warsaw, including professional and amateur actors. The workshop in the shape of a performance on the theatre stage ultimately turned into a critique of participatory and socially engaged art. All episodes of the performance were scripted, but also left room for performative activities.

Flag No. 5 was awarded in the second edition of the Placówka programme, organized by the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute.

Flags was also presented at Monika Drożyńska’s solo exhibition Acid 2 at the Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Gdańsk.