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Above: Flag for Puebla, Mexico. Click to view larger images.

Flag for Puebla was a commissioned work that ran throughout 2018. Artist’s were commissioned to create a flag that would be flown on vending tricycles selling food throughout Cholula, Puebla in Mexico. The work was intended to be a social intervention, mobile art in public spaces accompanied by food. The creation of the flag occurred through the sourcing and use of online materials.

Mexico’s long relationship with the US, part of which includes its history of emigration to the US to escape economic, social and political problems, has some striking similarities to the relationship between Ireland and England. These relationships, the result of the juxtaposition of our nations with another, become a part of our identity for both better or worse. According to cybernetics, identity is foremost formed in relation or juxtaposition to another and as such is a strength in identity. The flag created for the commission states:

We are defined by our relationships with our neighbours

and shows one of several prototype walls US President Donald Trump commissioned as a means to further segregate the US from Mexico.

Many thanks to curator Doreen A. Ríos and artist Mir Xael for assistance with translation.