|Historical American Flags (image from Wikipedia)|
There are 50 distressed American flags, hanging from the domed ceiling of New York’s Federal Hall on Wall Street. Federal Hall was built in 1842, on the site of the U.S's first capitol building under the Constitution, the exact spot where, in 1789, George Washington was inaugurated.
These flags were collected by the artist Mel Ziegler, Professor of Fine Arts at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, from each state between 2011 and 2016. Ziegler journeyed through all 50 states and replaced distressed American flags flying at civic and private locations — city halls, post offices, hospitals, homes, and schools — with new flags.
Ziegler came across his first flag near Nashville, Tennessee, where he lives. “It was hanging from a barn and had been there so long that the white stripes had rotted away and only the red ones remained,” he says. “I thought it was amazing, the way it looked, and then I couldn’t help myself. I just started noticing ragged flags everywhere.” (...)