Flag International: Global Perspectives On The American Flag

What is America?

It is a challenge to singularly define America because the country reinvents itself on a daily basis. Growing up I have been able to view America from several perspectives: Black, female, first-generation American, and a former military child. Always being on the move has made me curious about how people come to formulate opinions about themselves and others. As a college student during the Gulf War, it quickly became apparent to me how little my peers knew about the military's activities or the symbolic power of the American flag. From 1995 to 2007 I traveled via train across the United States and Europe photographing and interviewing people with the American flag. The culminations of my journeys are the books Flag: An American Story (2001) and Flag International (2008).

See the multimedia project I did here.

The Flag series reveals what is beneath the surface of the American dream by looking beyond statistics and into the minds of ordinary citizens--native born and naturalized -- whose feelings about America not only told the reader what the country is, but also what it should be. Through each subject's photographs and hand-written statements about America, the reader became aware of the beauty, violence, racism, hope, and inequity that created the American cultural fabric leading into the twenty first century. I concluded the first Flag book by stating 'As Americans, we are who we choose to be, and that may all change tomorrow'. That statement was published before 9/11, the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, Abu Ghraib, and the war in Iraq.

In 2007 all these events compelled me to ask, what has become of America? I began thinking about shooting Flag International and quickly formulated a list of destinations. It was paramount that I shot this story while President George W. Bush was still in office because his administration has played such a crucial role in international politics. My goal was to explore Europe with the American flag and investigate how the international community views the United States in the 21st Century.

Before departing for my trip I encountered a lot of well intentioned, but discouraging remarks from people in the U.S. Over the past eight years Americans have been conditioned to think the rest of the world hates us, the world beyond our borders is a dangerous place, and people want to kill Americans for sport. People told me I must be out of my mind for even thinking about traveling with the American flag at this time. I was also instructed to buy several 'back up' American flags, because surely the flag will be burned. Lastly, Americans generally believe they already know what other people think, so what's the point of asking them?

I walked throughout eight countries in search of people to interview and photograph.
Each of the subjects were approached on the street and handed a sketchbook to write their views of America, afterwards they were given the American flag and proceeded to pose whichever way they felt comfortable. Later they read their comments in their native language for audio recording. The entire process was captured on HD video. This was not a simple process. I was basically working as a one woman band, handling still photography, video, text and audio interviews. Did I mention I am only fluent in English?

One of my discoveries traveling through Europe was that there is a New Europe! The 'Old Europe' (which I was familiar with) was basically where you went to see 'Old Stuff' such as castles, and was comprised of a homogenous population. The New Europe is a dynamic, cosmopolitan, and ethnically diverse continent with a youthful push towards a unification of cultures and resources.

The New Europe reminded me of the idea of America, which constitutes a vast array of people striving to create a new way of being. While interviewing the international community, it was interesting to hear their expectations and frustrations with America. On the road I encountered Graffiti artists, Holocaust survivors, Iraqi women, street vendors, and even a Pulitzer Prize author, and many more, who gave me a piece of their mind while holding Old Glory.

In Berlin I met a former political prisoner who witnessed JFK speaking at the Brandenburg gate. He enthusiastically grabbed the flag and began singing "We Shall Overcome" at the top of his lungs. In Holland a store keeper remarked "Americans are a little bit crazy. They eat too much Mc Donald's and they work too much." A man informed me "I don't like Paris Hilton and I don't like Bush.' On London's Oxford Street, three affluent Muslim women wearing designer clothes wrote: "I like the U.S.A. I want to live in the U.S.A., but all the people in the U.S.A don't like Muslims. I hope to love them." But by far the biggest shocker of them all happened in France. While photographing a young man in the middle of a busy street, he proceeded to drop his pants and began wiping himself with the American flag. That was a pivotal moment for me, because in an instant I had to decide if I was really going allow the participants to freely express themselves without restrictions, as I had promised. I decided to keep my word.

As I continued to travel throughout Ireland, England, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, I could not help but to wonder how the E.U. will deal with the same challenges facing America such as nationalism, immigration, racism, fundamentalism, and apathy. Will the opinions and concerns voiced by the people in Flag International, become self-prophecies for their own nation and unification? Only time will tell.

Once again the statement 'As Americans, we are who we choose to be, and that may all change tomorrow.' rings true. On Election Day Barack Obama became the new embodiment of the American Dream and the global face of change. Most Americans no longer assume that 'everybody hates us'. Now the assumption is 'everybody loves Barack, so that means everybody loves America, right?'
Only time will tell.

The intention of the Flag International series is to inspire a dialogue about cultural understanding within a global framework. Cultural understanding is not only how a people or a nation views itself, but also how the world views you.

Flag International can be purchased at www.laurilyons.com or www.blurb.com/laurilyons

Comments

[PoliticalRockChick]

When my friends and I went to England this year we were able to see Old England and New England. We stayed in London which was like New York, but with better accents. It was very difficult to find real Londoners in the city unless you went out of the city. Like I said it was like New York. Everybody were foreigners. Many are French, Germans and Spaniards.

We went to Cardiff and it was a combination of suburb, old and new city. We went to Bath and that was spectacular. Bath kept all of the Roman inspired architectures while having modern businesses, such as Armani, Versaci and Starbucks. It was incredible. I will say all the people we met while in England they only hated Bush and our policies. They don't hate Americans. In London majority of the people strangely thought America was violent, because of the gun violence. They stated all of our shows and movies are violent. Which was kind of surprising. I will say the rest of the world knows more about us and everybody else then Americans. America needs to be informed about World politics. I mean come on, every hostel or hotel I went the TV in the lobbies had BBC World on and various news channels.

[truestarr]

Fascinating project. As an expat with the experience of living in both Turkey (5 years, in the 90's) and currently Europe (Denmark, France and Greece, almost 12 years) - I have found that the symbol of the American flag can mean many things.

So many people have a love/hate relationship with America. Rarely have I experienced any direct disgust towards the American people, though the actions of the government the last 8 years have made for "interesting" political discussions. The most surprising feeling I get from people is disappointment - that we could "be" or "do" so much! Many Europeans have a relative or friends who lives in America, and so they feel a sort of "one off" ownership.

When my American voice is singled out in a crowd (a midwest twang in some situations is almost like waving a flag!) I can't tell you how many times a conversation has been prefaced with, I don't "hate" the American PEOPLE... but..." Usually people remind me of all the advantages of living in America, and of course, the beauty. Fewer and fewer people remember our contributions of the World Wars, and mostly we're identified with our movies, our 'wall street' wealth, and our politics.

[chewie2008]

The Amercan Flag to me is often times the symbol of the way the United States of America conducts itself
in the world and towards its own people.Sometimes you want to burn it and sometimes you want to wrap yourself up with it full of pride.I think it shows the ambivalence of the United States and her history,which is also a great source of inspiration.

I hope you enjoyed your stay in Berlin.The one pic of the couple next to the Goerlitzer Park in Kreuzberg is not that far from where I live.Very chillable.

[VikingKing]

The American Flag means torture and war . . . really?
Evidence Yuri is right: ideological demoralization has been accomplished, the Cold War never ended, at least half our people think this country stands for violence, exploitation, war and torture ala Jeremiah Wright, and there is no reasoning with people who hold these views so deeply ingrained is the demoralization.

http://allanerickson.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/what-every-leftist-should-hear/

[windypaperboy]

Why only Europe? Europe is only a small allied number of countries. Make a worldwide trip and then write about the REAL world.

[EuroHuffPoFan]

windypaperboy . . .

Europe consists of 48 different countries . .

And Europe has approx 788 millions inhabitants.

Small ?

[chewie2008]

You sound like Rummy and his Old Europe remark.Arrogance comes to mind.Have you ever been to Europe?What do you mean Real world?The culture sure is different here then from the States.Every country here in Europe has it`s own special flavor.Heck,it`s not even 15 years ago,that neighbors were killing neighbors in the Balkans.I understand visiting the Middle East,South America,Af­rica,etc,w­ould have been also very fascinating and probably even more different but I suggest you take a second and think about it.Just look at the United States and how different people are from certain states,how they think....you could believe they`re from other countries and cultures too.Simplification is just laziness of thought in my opinion.

[windypaperboy]

The American Flag means to.rture and vvar.

[SpaghettyIrish]

to some. Many, not.

[piul05]

Interesting summary of your fieldwork; I wouldn't mind hearing more form it in details.