This is England? by Vicky Lindo & Bill Brookes

Recent political events, particularly the rise in the use of St George’s Cross to express anti-migrant sentiments, have inspired this collection of works. A national flag is used for different purposes; it doesn’t have a single unified meaning. Different groups of people want to claim the St George’s Cross for themselves, projecting their values onto the flag to express their own version of Englishness; however, due to the various contexts in which the flag is used, it is easy to misinterpret someone’s motivation for displaying it.

Recently, the display of the St. George’s Cross and the Union Jack has been cynically monopolised by some groups to confer authority over their own conception of what England should be.  They associate themselves with tradition and history, believing that it will lend more weight to their point of view. But this authority is the veneer of tradition and history and doesn’t give weight to anti-migration arguments.  It just reminds us of the contradiction between the historical demonisation of foreigners and a nation built on centuries of migration. Displaying national symbols can be an expression of so many opposing things: frustration with contemporary politics, nostalgia, shameless racism, national pride, or supporting a sports team. Seeing the Westbury White Horse pinned with red fabric to make a St. George’s Cross helped me see the flags differently. Was it an act of vandalism or decoration?

The white horse seemed to embody the futility of the nationalist desire to pinpoint an idealised moment in history to return to.  Both the horse and flag’s meaning had changed; I wanted to use the flag for myself.  I choose to use the flag as a symbol of diversity; it contains so many meanings, and it represents the country as it is, good and bad. I have combined the use of the flag in our work with flora and fauna that represent my British, Jamaican and Chinese heritage.

Slipware Pottery with sgraffito decoration.

2026

27cm diam