Installation work with Tomas Ermin, after invitation of Broedplaats Volkshotel to make the Progress Flag for 2023 Queer & Pride month in Amsterdam (NL). The installation is showcased for 6 weeks. The flag hung outside for the entire year. Photos © Daphne Vermeulen.
What if this word gets blown into the wind
falls off this flag
resists being caught
Wonders around the city
Its people and their pathways
Wonders what else it could be, where else it could be
The letters move apart, and stay together,
refigure what it means to be in proximity,
to be close
Knows that there are worlds beyond this flag,
and the idea of flag and what it stands for
A liberation but not within the very logic it wants to undo
Queer life doesn’t happen in recognisable, easy consumable brackets
This word doesn’t want to stand anywhere
or stand for anything
The more it is forced to stand, be still, stay put,
it fights it, it resists, it breaks free
It understands that liberation cannot happen on a single facade,
knows that it needs movement, needs the wind
So that’s why this word is on this flag,
it anticipates the wind,
it knows that it’s there
It knows that it’s possible
“and [sits] here wondering which me will survive all these liberations” – Audre Lorde
