For Which It Stands... Art Exhibit on American Identity

Student Researchers

Hadleigh Nunes '21

External Collaborators

• Exhibit at the Fairfield University Art Museum

Research Objectives

Inclusion of one of Tim Ferguson Sauder's American Flags (co-created with Hadleigh Nunes '21) in an exhibition which examines depictions of the American flag through more than 70 works by a diverse group of artists, beginning during WWI with Childe Hassam’s Italian Day, May 1918 and continuing to the present day, including a textile sculpture commissioned for the show from Maria de Los Angeles.

The exhibition includes work in a variety of media by artists including Jasper Johns, Faith Ringgold, Robert Rauschenberg, Shepard Fairey, and Julie Mehretu, and challenges viewers to consider who the American flag truly represents and whether justice is available to all.

Impact

In a country where political discourse is growing ever more polarized Tim Ferguson Sauder's project Americans Flags hopes to encourage a discussion about, awareness of and empathy for the many different people that make up our great nation. This work celebrates those differences and what they bring to America through a series of American flags built from marks left by these different people. These flags are intended to encourage those who see them to stop and contemplate how our actions affect each other and to feel patriotic about the complex nation that we’re all building together.