ARTIST  Georgia Lale got her work ‘Neighbourhood Guilt’ ‘confiscated’ on December 19, by the Greek government. It was being exhibited at the Consulate General of Greece in New York, but as reported both in the Greek media and in the foreign press (including ABC News) it had provoked negative attention because of its representation of the design of the Greek flag, in pink and white. The work focused on the issue of domestic violence, and was made up of bed sheets that female victims of domestic violence had sent to Lale from Greece. The thought that victims of femicide often end up being killed on the same sheets that they sleep in, was of creative importance for Lale’s realization of this work.

‘Neighbourhood Guilt’ sparked the attention of the leader of the greek Niki party, Dimitrios Natsios, who raised it as an issue at parliament and said that “Our flag is blue and white and it can be dyed red only on one occasion: with the blood of our heroes during national struggles.” One could also consider however, that blood of femicide victims in Greece is also of national importance. As declared by OBC Transeuropa, Greece had the highest increase in femicides in 2021 with an increase of 187.5%, from 8 incidents in 2020 to 23 in 2021. The work ‘Neighbourhood Guilt’ certainly focuses on this growing national problem in a most poignant way.

Flags in art

Many artists have used their country’s national flag in their art. Certainly the American flag has been used the most, with artist Jasper Johns creating a white version of it back in 1955. In response to the taking down of Lale’s work, the cultural centre Onassis Stegi posted a list of 10 artists who had used flags in their work on its fb page, including Lale, William N. Copley, Jamie Reid’s design for the cover of the Sex Pistols album ‘God Save the Queen’, Jasper Johns, Banksy, Nari Ward, and David Hammons, who changed the colours of the American flag into the colours of the Pan-African flag in his work ‘African American Flag’, created back in 1990 (and which, I might add, sold for 2 million dollars in 2017). Also included on the list was ‘Greek Flag’ by artist Pavlos (Pavlos Dionyssopoulos), who had added some colour to the Greek flag back in 2007.

However let us not forget also the work of artist Christos Bokoros, who added to the Greek flag many of his characteristic candle flames. The work was exhibited at an exhibition at the Benaki Museum in 2017.

Changing the colours of a national flag can be seen a sign of disrespect, but in the case of Israel, using the colours of the Palestinian flag by artists was also seen as a form of political propaganda. Israel’s ban on artists using the colours of the Palestinian flag was lifted in 1993, but until then it had prompted artists to find a creative answer to this problem, by using the watermelon as a symbol of Palestine instead, seeing as it had the same colours as the Palestinian flag.

So, as one can see, flags and artists is a tricky combination, but one which maybe shouldn’t be flagged down by authorities too quickly, although this action can actually be of benefit to the artist in the long-run. If one sees Georgia Lale’s work ‘Neighbourhood Guilt’ within the context of art history, it tells a very different story, adding another dimension to an already established visual dialogue which involves flags in art, but also sheets.

Sheets of art

Sheets have been used by artists before, most notoriously by Tracey Emin who exhibited her dirty sheets together with her entire bed in an installation piece entitled ‘My Bed’, which was shortlisted for the Tate Gallery’s Turner Prize in 1999. The avant-garde Greek artist Nikos Kessanlis had also used sheets back in the Sixties, to create installations in art venues in Rome and Venice. In the case of Georgia Lale’s work ‘Neighbourhood Guilt’, the sheets have been quilted into patterns. Stitching, quilting, embroidery and all sorts of other crafts usually associated with women have become popular in the practices of contemporary artists in recent decades, and have been incorporated in many ways, in order to make strong statements about female identity, women’s issues etc.

‘Art Scene Athens’ is written/run by artist/journalist Stella Sevastopoulos. Dedicated to presenting what is happening on the Greek art scene (but not only), and also to giving Greek artists an international voice on the internet. For more on Stella Sevastopoulos’s art, click here If you would like to be featured in Art Scene Athens, please send email (stelsevas@yahoo.com).