The flag
1 October 2018

Who are they? Who are we?

A flag, traveling the world for a year.

A new hand sewn flag has been made and will be traveling the world for around a year. The flag will be departing from Glasgow (Scotland) in July and packed together with a GPS, people will be able to follow the project and see where it will be on display next.We are now looking for venues interested in taking part in the project by displaying the flag for a period of time, so if you’re interested in hosting the flag please contact us by sending an email to: info@whoisproject.co.uk.

“Red Dragon Flagmakers is one of the few remaining businesses worldwide which sews flags in the traditional way – piece by piece. We are proud to be a British company manufacturing 100% in the UK and we are the only social enterprise Flagmaker in the world. Our portfolio includes flags for the armed forces, film and TV companies, churches, corporate, public sector, sport, charity and private commissions and we train skills for rehabilitation and sustainable employment in our local community, keeping the tradition of manufacturing alive in South Wales.  We cut, make and sew our flags professionally and to the highest of standards and we are delighted to sponsor Who is? Project, @reddragonmfg”   Red Dragon Flagmakers, Sponsoring Who is? Project

History of the flag:  The flag was first exhibited on World Refugee Day on the 20th of June 2017, a day dedicated to raising awareness of refugees around the world. Asking the viewer the question, Who are they?, Who are we? , the flag is speaking about the many invisible borders we as a species have created through history.  Against the backdrop of the EU referendum, the US election outcome and the current rise of nationalisme happening around the world, it is our hope that the flag will act as catalyst to discuss division and the growing fear of the stranger. The stranger is an ambivalent character. They are neither neighbour nor alien, but both, simultaneously. Close foreigners and foreign neighbours. Alien fear is a product of the stranger’s incongruous character and life is marked by the struggle to reduce alienation. People are bombarded with new impressions and social life has become more and more ritualistic, and when fellow citizens and establishments increasingly act out of self-interest, the result is social distance – hiding behind human made borders, both physical and invisible.

Dividing the society into “us and them” will create problems, when right from the start, society places immigrants and second-generation immigrants as not being a part of the community. We are all people. We have bodies and minds, 10 fingers and 10 toes, but we’re all different, and the fact that we are, is what creates a enriched and multicultural society.

The flag has been on display at different location both in and outside UK, which can be found below. The flag is white, with the question written in black.

Places that have taken part in the project
Fotografisk Center (Denmark), Hamburger Kunsthalle (Germany), Civic Room (Scotland), lokal_30 (Polen), Galleri Format (Norway), 2B Galéria (Hungary), INDA Gallery (Hungary), Brass’Art Digitaal (Belgium), NOASS, Tirana Art Center, London Gallery West (England),Camphill Gate (Scotland), The Ubiquitous Chip (Scotland), GoMA (Scotland)

“We have found that an artistic approach can help counteract the prejudice faced by refugee and migrant, by questioning the way we think about each other; our neighbours, our co-workers, our families. We all have stories, and each person’s story is completely different from our own, but equally important.”  – Interview with Mix Magazine, Who is? Project, 2018

“White Flag project that is tackling global division and the “growing fear of the stranger”   Its Nice That, 2017