ARTIST: Virginia Braden
COUNTRY: Germany
FLAG COLORS: Black, Red, Gold
ARTIST’S COMENTS: A flag symbolizes nationalism but what, exactly, does nationalism mean? Its apparent meaning, we would say, is allegiance to a particular nation – a nation defined by boundaries which are imaginary and arbitrary lines that divide space on our planet.
Line is also one of the elements of art that artists use, not only to divide space but also to define form and to create tension within the work. It is accurate, therefore, to say that an inherent attribute of line is that it creates tension – tension which takes the form of psychic energy – which is unconscious energy; and in the case of nationalism, a “collective” psychic energy which is an archetypal energy capable of generating such ideals as “true believers.” Allegiance, then, is really a matter of psychic energy generating pockets of “true believers” willing to die for a cause. Flags represent that cause.
Every now and then a special person comes into the world who is a planetary being – one who sees differently and is brave enough, not only to “Imagine” a world without boundaries, but asks us all to imagine a world where we are all one. Of course, you know to whom I refer for he has left his mark on our planet.
I would like to dedicate this art work to John Lennon’s dream as a reminder to every nation on our planet to GIVE PEACE A CHANCE; and for us all to imagine a planet where we live together in peace and harmony in a new age: The Age of Aquarius.
