Grey Flags, c3 Contemporary Artspace, 2012
Grey Flags was an exhibition of ink drawings, focussed on semaphore flags and protest placards, set amidst fragmented post-war landscapes.
September 26–October 14, 2012
c3 Contemporary Art Space
Abbotsford Convent
1 St Heliers Street
Abbotsford VIC 3067
Australia
About the exhibition
War-time signallers wave semaphore flags, and protesters take the streets with placards.
But throughout the works, the flags and placards are greyed out, stripping them of any text, identifying colour or symbol: depriving them of their meaning.
Isolated figures wave their flags meaningless flags at nothing. Protesters don’t know what they want, or when they want it.
Failed communication is the pillar on which rests our failure to avoid either conflict or isolation.
The works in Grey Flags imagine the problems resulting when communication is blocked.
They trace the tension between the human need to speak to others about hopes and fears, and the difficulty of doing so articulately.
Poor communication carries a great risk.