The Black Essex Flag, 2019

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​​Appliqué flag

Black cotton satin, rayon, metallic lurex and Italian patent leather

121 x 182 cm

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Collection of Beecroft Art Gallery

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"Traditionally, the county flag of Essex is three silver cutlasses on a red background: a familiar emblem from local government, and the badge of the county cricket club. Elsa’s turning of the flag to black, with the swords glittering through the surface, is an overwriting of familiar norms with an unapologetic and proud subversion. This is a remarkable decolonial turn in the work, a symbol of appropriating a familiar historic Essex symbol and suggesting a new awareness of multiple narratives and layers of contestation and difference"

— Dr Jon Blackwood

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Credit:

Photographed by Tessa Hallmann for Southend Museums

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Exhibition history​:

2024 - Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend, UK

2022 - Focal Point Gallery, Southend, UK

2020 - Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend, UK

2019 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK

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