Daily Drawing Diary

Grandmother’s Flag

Page 16 from the catalogue for To There & Back Again - Catching The Spaces In Between. To order your copy click here.

Oil & Gold Leaf On Canvas, 120cm x 90cm

DCR: Obviously the flag is a slightly controversial and very evocative American symbol.
RP: I think the american flag has two meanings, depending on whether you’re american or not. For Americans, it’s about equality, justice, freedom and pride in your country, and for us, a flag tends to represent imperialism and staking claim to land.
DCR: It’s a cultural difference because one very rarely sees a flagpole of the Union Jack in a city garden here for example, and if you do, strange connotations immediately spring to mind about nationalism. But at first glance, if you’re unaware of the title, this drawing almost depicts what looks like a slightly sad, run-down house about to be overwhelmed by nature. The trees are beginning to encroach upon it, the flag has no wind in its sails. Is this somewhere you stayed?
RP: It belongs to the grandmother of a friend of mine, and she was very proud to be american and Texan. She was in her mid-80s, went to the gym every day and was just one of those cookie-cutter grandmothers living in a typical Texan town. a lot of the people that i stayed with showed great hospitality. in drawing the flag, I’m signalling the slight confusion i have about it, questioning how i see it.
DCR:: I find this image very appealing and evocative. even though I’ve never been there, I can imagine standing at the gate, someone sitting outside on a chair, grandma baking.