Martin Army Community Hospital

Since its inception in the late 1700’s, the American Flag has been the centerpiece of our country. When I was in elementary school, I remember standing each morning before the day began and, hand over heart, reciting in unison those words of allegiance to this symbol of our nation's struggle for freedom. As a child the significance of this was lost on me; I was merely following instruction and didn’t quite understand the significance of this pledge. Even with all of the history classes, war movies, and discussions over coffee in college halls I still didn’t grasp the full weight of this symbol. Until recently. While doing some research for this project, I had time to explore the thirteen stripes of white and red and I began to feel the weight and importance of this object. As I searched for objects to add to my flag, I tried to pull together items that were truly American. I gathered up vintage hand drills and rusted kitchen implements, old match box cars from the sandboxes of our youth, even the clichéd American baseballs, worn out from a thousand hands. Reflecting on the stars--which were originally just 13 stars intended to create a new constellation--I decided to replace these stars with birds in flight; an innocent motif to symbolize that freedom we all should be allowed to feel; freedom to be creative, freedom to love, freedom to explore.