Victoria Dugger Reinterprets the American Flag in Glitter and Fringe

"When Victoria Dugger encountered Jasper Johns' " Flag " during a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in 2024, she found herself contemplating similar ideas. The encaustic painting is one of Johns' most recognizable works and revels in ambiguity: although it bears stars and stripes, it's not an exact representation of Old Glory, nor is it solely a gestural, abstract work. Instead, "Flag" prompts questions about motif, material, and meaning that defy any singular narrative."

"For Dugger, Johns' multivalent approach felt particularly apt 70 years later. On the eve of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, she began a body of work that reflects a similar set of inquiries through the lens of Blackness, disability, and desire. Freak Flags, on view this month at Sargent's Daughters, reinterprets the United States flag through gingham, glitter, beads, fringe, and more."

"Spectacle takes a different form in Dugger's mixed-media works, though, as she replaces stars with glittery tasseled pasties and lines the edges with vibrantly dyed locks of hair. There are also miniature picket fences and curls of barbed wire woven throughout some of the compositions. While the former symbolizes the ideal of safety and suburbanization within the American Dream, the latter nods to a history of domination and discrimination from Manifest Destiny to Japanese internment to contemporary immigration practices along the southern border."

Victoria Dugger encountered Jasper Johns' Flag and responded to its ambiguity about motif, material, and meaning. On the eve of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Dugger began a body of work interrogating Blackness, disability, and desire through reimagined flags. Freak Flags employs gingham, glitter, beads, fringe, tasseled pasties, and vibrantly dyed hair to subvert conventional flag elements while invoking the legacy of freak shows. Miniature picket fences reference suburban safety and the American Dream, while curls of barbed wire recall histories of domination and discrimination from Manifest Destiny to Japanese internment and contemporary immigration practices. Floral and frilly details complicate the works' blend of spectacle and menace.

Read at Colossal