You may have noticed the colorful flags with the words Look, Home, Hold, Play, Want and Yeah on fences and lampposts all over town. Got you thinking, didn’t they? That is the point—to make all of us take note, ponder and reflect on how their public setting aims to transform what the words mean to us, to elevate them from the everyday.
The flags are a public installation by Australian artist Jon Campbell, whose work, including the “Four Letter Word” mural, is currently on view in the group exhibit “It’s Gonna Take a Lotta Love” at Franklin Street Works.
“I like the small important things, the overlooked, unloved, things on the side,” says Campbell. “These moments to me often reflect more about how we live than the official version…It’s about making a space for people to think about how we live.”
Part of the installation included a collaborative art project with Stamford middle and high school students to create flags and explore what they represent as well as the role art plays in that representation, says Bonnie Wattles, the gallery’s executive director. The project also included a contest; the winning flag will be unveiled any day now. Look again; all flags can be viewed until Flag Day, June 14.