Flag Studies is a meditation on statecraft and the ways in which Philippine national identity is invented and imagined. This series also aims to critique the state-sanctioned “imaginings” of Philippine national identity, its ties to American imperial rule, and how its contemporary articulations evolve within the Philippine diaspora. For these studies, I use different types of fabric from all over the Philippines, along with imagery from various sources, such as the Philippine Products Catalogue, a catalog created under the Ferdinand Marcos’ dictatorship. The material histories of the textiles are again very important in conveying the complexity and overlaps within national identity and histories of commodification. The use of woven textiles from various parts of the Philippines is both a way to try to represent the myriad of indigenous communities largely unseen, destroyed, or consumed by tourist economies. Each flag speaks as a gesture or tangent, the collective expression fluctuates over time as new flags are added or reworked.

All documentation by David Sloan