FLAGS OF YOUR ENEMY
The Australian armed forces have travelled further and more often to take part in war, than almost any other military on earth. Our history of declared enemies - those nations and peoples that the Australian armed forces were sent to fight, is a more extensive list than almost every other nation.
This ongoing photographic project aims to capture the public display of flags and symbols of those historically declared enemies.
In 2023, two events occurred that inspired this project.
Firstly, the Australian government proposed legislation to outlaw the public display of “prohibited symbols”. These included Nazi symbols, the Islamic State flag and its phrases. In fact, anything that “resembles” or “is likely to be confused with, or mistaken for” is also to be banned.
Complicating this law, is that the banned phrases are of great significance for Muslims. Written in Arabic, these phrases are displayed on the flags of nations, within homes, as stickers on cars, in mosques, or as artwork in many forms. Additionally, the swastika has immense significance to the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain faiths.
The second event was a ban placed on displaying the national flags of Russia and Belarus at the Australian Open tennis tournament. This ban carried into the television broadcast - where the Russian and Belarus flags were replaced with white rectangles.
This project explores the power of banned symbols and their use in shifting public values and beliefs.
FLAG #1
FLAG #2
FLAG #3