My new exhibition, ‘Flag of Convenience’ has opened for a preview week before its ‘proper’ opening on Saturday 1st June (tour at 2:30pm).
You couldn’t have an exhibition about flags without having some flags – Here’s the story behind a pair I’ve had made by the flagmakers to the Queen no less, in a piece called ‘£IG BANG! BOOM + BU$T’. And here are some photos of them being made…
The two flags are double-sided, and the designs are appliqued – none of your digital printed stuff here, mate – sorry – Your Majesty. Nice bit of overlocking stitching on the lettering too, you’ll note.
Anyway, if you’ve read thus far, you’re probably waiting for me to explain what it’s all about…
“No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic” – A.J.P. Taylor
National flags developed from the banners carried by armies into battle. Capitalism, deregulation and globalisation mean money and the power and influence it wields has no borders.
The phrase ‘Big Bang’, was used to describe the deregulation of the London Stock Exchange by Margaret Thatcher in 1986.
It was notable that one of the first things Thatcher did when she got in power in 1979 was to abolish limits on how much money you could stuff in a suitcase and take out of the country.
A ‘Boom and Bust’ cycle is where economic expansion is followed by a rapid contraction, leading to recessions, collapses in the market, and mass unemployment. This repeating cycle seems to be a constant feature of a capitalist economy.
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