Skip to content

WELCOME TO OUR STORE

SUPPORT OUR WORK

  • HOME
  • MAGAZINE
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • ALL ISSUES
    • FIND SELVEDGE
    • ORDER FAQS
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • FOR YOURSELF
    • FOR SOMEONE ELSE
    • FOR STUDENTS
    • FOR AN INSTITUTION
    • SUBSCRIBER FAQS
    • SUBSCRIBER ACCESS
  • STORIES
  • SHOP
    • SELVEDGE GOODS
    • SELVEDGE TOTES
    • ARTISAN GOODS
      • ALL
      • CLOTHING
      • INTERIORS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • TOYS
      • YARDAGE
      • EXPLORE ARTISANS
      • ACCESS TALKS
    • MAGAZINES
    • BOOKS
    • ORDER FAQs
  • LEARN
    • BOOK A WORKSHOP
    • LISTEN TO A TALK
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • SLOW TV
    • TRAVEL WITH US
  • EVENTS
    • MAKERS FAIR, BATH
    • WINTER FAIR
    • TEXTILE MONTH
    • SELVEDGE TOURS
    • EVENT FAQS
  • COMMUNITY
    • JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
    • LISTEN TO A PODCAST
    • SELVEDGE OPEN STUDIO
    • VISIT A TEXTILE COLLECTION
    • SEE AN EXHIBITION
    • ENTER A PRIZE DRAW
    • MAKE A PROJECT
  • COLLABORATE
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • WORK WITH US
    • WRITE FOR US
    • WRITE FOR THE BLOG
    • BECOME A STOCKIST
  • OUR STORY
    • READ OUR STORY
    • GET TO KNOW US
    • READ ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
Log in
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Selvedge Magazine
  • HOME
  • MAGAZINE
    • CURRENT ISSUE
    • ALL ISSUES
    • FIND SELVEDGE
    • ORDER FAQS
  • SUBSCRIBE
    • FOR YOURSELF
    • FOR SOMEONE ELSE
    • FOR STUDENTS
    • FOR AN INSTITUTION
    • SUBSCRIBER FAQS
    • SUBSCRIBER ACCESS
  • STORIES
  • SHOP
    • SELVEDGE GOODS
    • SELVEDGE TOTES
    • ARTISAN GOODS
      • ALL
      • CLOTHING
      • INTERIORS
      • ACCESSORIES
      • TOYS
      • YARDAGE
      • EXPLORE ARTISANS
      • ACCESS TALKS
    • MAGAZINES
    • BOOKS
    • ORDER FAQs
  • LEARN
    • BOOK A WORKSHOP
    • LISTEN TO A TALK
    • MEET THE MAKER
    • SLOW TV
    • TRAVEL WITH US
  • EVENTS
    • MAKERS FAIR, BATH
    • WINTER FAIR
    • TEXTILE MONTH
    • SELVEDGE TOURS
    • EVENT FAQS
  • COMMUNITY
    • JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
    • LISTEN TO A PODCAST
    • SELVEDGE OPEN STUDIO
    • VISIT A TEXTILE COLLECTION
    • SEE AN EXHIBITION
    • ENTER A PRIZE DRAW
    • MAKE A PROJECT
  • COLLABORATE
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • WORK WITH US
    • WRITE FOR US
    • WRITE FOR THE BLOG
    • BECOME A STOCKIST
  • OUR STORY
    • READ OUR STORY
    • GET TO KNOW US
    • READ ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
Log in Cart

Item added to your cart

Access Denied
IMPORTANT! If you’re a store owner, please make sure you have Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin, as you have customer based locks set up with EasyLockdown app. Enable Customer Accounts
IDENTITY OUT NOW

IDENTITY OUT NOW

April 19, 2022
Share

With war once again in Europe a reality, it seems timely for Selvedge to examine flags: their importance, heritage, and meaning.

Ostensibly, a flag is a piece of cloth onto which meaning is projected. They can mean different things to different people: a symbol of both love and hate, and both freedom and oppression. Flags can unite, divide, and even terrorise. In this issue, we explore how a piece of cloth has been transformed into one of the most powerful symbols in our cultural repertoire. In her article, You Can′t Eat a Flag, Dr Catherine Harper examines how artists across the world have used flags to subvert and question our society.

Image: Sara Rahbar, Justice for All, Flag #57. 150 x 100cm, 2017, mixed media.

Johanna Wolfgang Grethe, the German writer, proclaimed that “a country starts with a name and a flag and then becomes them.” Flags unquestionably stir loyalty: citizens pledge allegiance to, and use the desecration of, flags as a protest or way to express political dissent. Generations of the military have lived and died for a flag on the battlefield. In military funerals, the flag is draped over the coffin, eventually with reverence these colours are laid up in churches, the length and breadth of England turned to dust. When we celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, the sales of flags and bunting will boom. During the celebrations, spare a thought for the power of the flag.

Of course, it is not just flags that communicate identity. Other textiles have been used to brand a nation, such as Israel’s fashion diplomacy in the postwar years, and as a symbol of cultural identity, communicated through the Romanian blouse. We dive deep into this cultural icon and invite you to make your own no-waste blouse in our workshop. When cultural identity is threatened it is often textiles that artists turn to express their descent, as we see in the delicate powerful stitched work of Belarusian Rufina Bazlova and the Sami artist, Britta Marakatt-Labba.

--

We're delighted that Issue 106 Identity is out now.

Find out how to subscribe, or purchase just this issue here:

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.

Invalid password
Enter

Quick links

  • SEARCH
  • ABOUT US
  • T&Cs
  • FAQs
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Subscribe to our newsletter by entering your email address below. "I just wanted to say how much I admire your informative and inspirational newsletters - I always look forward to them!" Tricia, San Rafael, USA

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Vimeo
Payment methods
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Diners Club
  • Discover
  • Google Pay
  • Maestro
  • Mastercard
  • Shop Pay
  • Union Pay
  • Visa
© 2025, Selvedge Magazine Powered by Shopify
  • Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.