– I was asked to make a flag to hoist by holms house in the centre of Nuuk. What does it stand for and what do you communicate with a flag? Regardless of perspective or geography, a huge part of the answer seems to navigate towards superiority and ownership. Ownership over land and an imposed sense of superiority over other lives present. It is said that when a flag is flown, something is being indicated or communicated. I raise my flag to communicate about the ongoing colonial heritage of Norway. To criticize and to seek help against the newcolonial laws and politics of Norway, deeply affecting and wounding my culture, our lands, animals and people. I hoist my flag to mark that Norway now has started a second round of forced slaughter of our reindeer in West-Finnmark, north of Norway, Sápmi. I raise my flag in support of my brothers and sisters in Joahkonjarga reindeer grazing district who have just recently received a second slaughter claim, now for 40 percent of their reindeer. Who of us is next and what comes second? I hoist the flag in support to our communities, present and future, in hope that we endure. Can I say with a flag, that I wish no flags were ever planted on our lands? – Maret Anne Sara
FLAG is a collaboration between artist Gudrun Hasle and Nuuk Art Museum. Six artists has been invited to create a flag for the flagpole at Holms Hus in the centre of Nuuk.
The flags are art works which at the end of the project will be gathered for an exhibition. The flag is hoisted in the morning and taken down in the afternoon on weekdays.
Gudrun Hasle (b.1979) is the third artist in the serie. ”Jeg vil garne være usynlig” (I want to be invisible) is a reflection about coming to Greenland being Danish feeling big and noisy. That as a Dane you can’t escape carrying a colonial luggage, and that this luggage makes you want to obliterate yourself as being Danish.
On the other hand the flag is also a reflection about a society where suicide and the consequence of it is present. With the flag Gudrun asks: Is suicide a wish for being visible or visible? A question aimed at the emotions leading to suicide – is suicide a cry for help or a wish of dissappearing.