Flag Tapestry

Looking through postcards of beflagged public buildings in London I found that the Union Jack was capable of hundreds of variations, each seemingly acceptable by the public as the British flag. In trying to reconstruct the hypothetical flat appearance of these mutations the principal difficulty was in deciding what happened in the parts of the design hidden from view in the folds of those which billowed in the wind.

In order to complete the cycle (flag flying photographed, photograph printed retouched, postcard purchased scrutinised, model of flying flag made, model conjectured flat, flat flag painted) these images should ideally be returned to their true size and made of cloth.

Tom Phillips's words from Works Texts to 1974, p 199

This tapestry, which represents the last step in the process described above, also relates to works in the Sculpture and Prints sections.