Flag depicts a group of children and youths triumphantly standing atop a burning car, raising the American flag. The figures are portrayed as disadvantaged urban youth. The dramatic presence of a large silver moon enhances the scene’s tension.
Children were chosen as subjects to symbolize the future, while simultaneously heightening the gravity of the issues addressed. In Flag, these children could represent the American youth, still ambitious in pursuit of the American Dream. Yet the work might also suggest a subtle critique of the enormous funds spent on war, leaving thousands unsupported in urban ghettos.
The composition revisits the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by American photographer Joe Rosenthal, taken on February 23, 1945. The original shows six Marines raising the Stars and Stripes atop Mount Suribachi after the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima against Japan. It was the only photograph to win a Pulitzer Prize the same year it was published. Given the image’s popularity, the Associated Press relinquished copyright, placing it in the public domain. Banksy’s Silver Edition was released for his 2006 London exhibition, Santa’s Ghetto.
