Photographer Natalie Brescia is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography. From the project ‘For Which It Stands’. To see Natalie’s body of work, click on any photograph.

I am interested in the polarization of American culture and subsequent utilization, coption, and commodification of the American flag. I, like many other children who grew up in America, spoke the words of the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. In recent years the words of the pledge have wracked my brain. In particular the ending words, “For which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Does this prevalent symbol truly undertake what I had said nearly every morning?

The American flag has changed sixty three times throughout the history of the United States to adapt to our expanding polity. President Dwight D. Eisenhower solidified the current design of the American with Executive Order Number 10834 with Hawaii being admitted as the fiftieth state on August 21st, 1959. The colors predominantly remained the same, but were chosen for their perceived values. In the words of Charles Thompson, the Secretary of the Continental Congress, “White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour, and Blue… signifies vigilance, perseverance & justice.” Do these values truly describe American society?

I have been photographing and collecting instances of the American flag since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The photographs act as a document of the times we are living in but also as a point of questioning. Each photograph describes the public realm, how those living in the United States decorate their bodies, cars, yards, businesses, homes, parks, and towns. I am drawn to the ways in which the American flag has been commodified and how the symbolism shifts depending on its use. The flag, as I see it, stands as a symbol for competing ideas: xenophobia vs refuge, admiration vs abhorrence, sacredness vs commodification.