Flaggot in British Vogue

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/jane-hartley-us-ambassador-interview/amp

The work, Flaggot, was presented at the British Parliament in 2012 to recognize then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and it is currently on display in the American embassy in London. It is made of shirt sleeves donated by LGBTQ community members. This flag showcases the 2011 remarks on Human Rights Day speech “Be On The Right Side of History” by Hillary Clinton in hand-printed offset lithography.

To make this piece from and for the people, the material chosen was shirt sleeves, sewn cuff to cuff, coming from a mix of people from a wide-range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. The field of the flag is an expansive sky with the stripes that snuggle up to it. The field is equally divided between stripes and stars, portraying them embracing in balance. Upon closer inspection, one can decipher that the blue shirt field is actually a map of Secretary Clintons birth sign. The Scorpius constellation is delineated by 24 carat gold dashes and dots that say “conversations, conversations” in Morse code, and the whole text of Secretary Clinton’s speech, telling us to “be on the right side of history”, is printed by hand, in its entirety, on the red and white stripes of the flag.

There are 196 stars selected from the real night sky to represent the 196 countries of the world as of the day the flag was completed. 78 stars represent the 78 nations that have insufficient human rights protections and even death sentences for LGBTQ persons. Those are shown in shadow and purposefully named so that we might anticipate and measure international progress.