Using United States flags (cut into thin strips) as his material and crochet
as his technique, Jerry Bleem brings together the classic icon of the nation
and a constructive hand process associated with domesticity. Inspired by
the way the war in Iraq has been reported "as either disimpassioned stories
of national policy or heart-wrenching accounts of individual soldiers'
disrupted lives and deaths", this work documents the time Bleem has spent
thinking of the relationship between these two different versions of war.
Rather than taking an ideological stance, he invites a consideration of how
the public life of the nation impacts the individual lives of her citizens.
Related drawings and collages join the crocheted works and mimic their
process of piling up a simple gesture as physical evidence of pursuing
understanding.
