The Hope Flags are an act of collective healing in response to collective trauma. The idea was conceived in early summer of 2020 to make a public meditative space for us to be together safely. Each flag is a visual memory of a garden, of someone who turned to gardening to cope with the uncertainty we all experienced with the onset of the pandemic. Read more about the project below.
In late summer I visited each garden included in this project. Sometimes we walked through the garden together and they shared stories with me about the plants and what they had been doing during this time of separation. Other times I explored their green space on my own. I spent time with the plants, looking at leaves and flowers, and taking pictures. Then I would begin to decide on a composition for the flag, gather a few leaves, and head back to my car to arrange the design and make the exposure. I was able to make almost all of the prints on location with my mobile studio.
While I visited quite a few gardens, it's such a small sampling of what is happening in backyards, and front yards, all across our city, our state, our country, and our world. People are connecting with the land, whether they began a gardening practice with a "corona garden" or if this is a constant in their lives for many years. Plants are our partners here on this planet, we work together to care for and nourish each other. You don't have to be a gardener, but I encourage everyone to develop an appreciation for plants, to respect that we serve them just as they serve us. To better understand trees and their individuality. To think about how to have a sustainable lawn that doesn't require chemical intervention to live. Put your hands in the dirt from time to time and feel the way it calms you.
I love knowing that so many of us are engaging in these practices as a form of healing. Collective healing in response to collective trauma. That's what the Hope Flags are - a collection of records of individual healing practices, gathered together to make a powerful space you can visit. It is intended to be a space where we can be together safely, to collectively heal even as we maintain our distance. To know that despite the distance, we are one.
Hope Flags was generously supported with a microgrant from Downtown OKC Partnership & Urban Land Institute (ULI) Oklahoma. The flags were on view at Elemental Coffee in Oklahoma City in September and October of 2020 to provide a safe space to experience the flags and soak up that collective healing energy. The flags were also on view at 21c Museum Hotel Oklahoma City from December 2020 to February 2022, part of the Collective Growth solo exhibition.