Gadsden
Hand sewn cotton flag
88" x 58"
2011
"Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this, [the rattlesnake] a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?"
-An American Guesser (Benjamin Franklin)
The Pennsylvania Journal, December 27, 1775
During their war for independence, American fighting men carried a variety of unique flags, many featuring coiled rattlesnakes prepared to strike. After the ratification of the Paris Treaty and the end of the war, the rattlesnake and other wartime symbols fell out of popular use, to be replaced with new federally designated symbols, such as the American bald eagle and multiple variations of 13-starred and 13-red-and-white-striped flags. Today, the rattlesnake is returning as an American symbol carried by political fundamentalists who employ it not as a symbol of national unity, but as an image of distinction between themselves and the greater union.
In this variation of the popular Gadsden flag instead of the traditional steadfast individual, a group of rattlesnakes are depicted -- against their nature -- engaged in a tenuous union, in the form of a violently fragmented Ouroborus.
This work was supported in part by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art as part of 'Evidence of Bricks' TBA:11 Curated by Kristan Kennedy.
-An American Guesser (Benjamin Franklin)
The Pennsylvania Journal, December 27, 1775
During their war for independence, American fighting men carried a variety of unique flags, many featuring coiled rattlesnakes prepared to strike. After the ratification of the Paris Treaty and the end of the war, the rattlesnake and other wartime symbols fell out of popular use, to be replaced with new federally designated symbols, such as the American bald eagle and multiple variations of 13-starred and 13-red-and-white-striped flags. Today, the rattlesnake is returning as an American symbol carried by political fundamentalists who employ it not as a symbol of national unity, but as an image of distinction between themselves and the greater union.
In this variation of the popular Gadsden flag instead of the traditional steadfast individual, a group of rattlesnakes are depicted -- against their nature -- engaged in a tenuous union, in the form of a violently fragmented Ouroborus.
This work was supported in part by the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art as part of 'Evidence of Bricks' TBA:11 Curated by Kristan Kennedy.
