JOE MCSHEA & EDGAR MOSA
Name: Joe McShea & Edgar Mosa
Age: both 36
Birthplace: Maryland, USA & Lisbon, Portugal
Home: New York, USA
Disciplines: Installation, sculpture, works on paper
Flags, Ibiza, 2021, photo by Joe McShean
What is the story of your art collaboration?
We started collaborating at the very beginning of our relationship. Literally – during our second date, we did a living room photoshoot with some jewellery, and then discussed angles, light, mood and context. From then on, making and experiencing art was our common language. You can learn a lot about a person from actively doing something creative with them: making decisions, negotiating dierent points of view, and appreciating ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of.
The flag project began in 2017 at a residency in Italy called Palazzo Monti. At the time, there was no furniture in the building, just mats to sleep on and these grand rooms painted with ceiling frescos. We decided to build a series of textile installations that we would set up, document, keep around for a day or two, and then take down to make the next thing. The last piece we created there was a flag made of ribbons. We took that idea home to New York and started making more. When we flew them on the beach and exposed them to wind, light and nature, they really came to life. Soon, other creative people started gathering around them. They were like a meeting point, and it wasn’t long before they were a part of our community.
How do you consider the flags, as it seems to be the main topic of your work?
We often call them "faceless" flags, in that the form of a traditional flag is there, but the meaning is not. Flags are the ultimate symbolic objects. They exist to speak a language of “this is who we are,” “this is where we are” or “this is what we are.” When we strip the flags of those meanings, everybody is left to project their own interpretation onto them. And they do. We like how the facelessness provokes people to reflect, think, and make their own meaning.
When you take away a flag’s symbolic function, all that’s left is a beautiful object. A textile moving with the air, reflecting the conditions of the world around it. Fabric flowing like liquid. A human-made material moving like a natural phenomenon.
How do you define your artistic practice in three words?
Edgar: Experimental, Bonding, Expressive.
Joe: Communal, Material, Ephemeral.
What do you want to achieve or claim with these installations?
The flags are not particularly subtle, or at least, they don’t go unnoticed. That is the primary function of any flag: to draw attention. There is usually a lot of interest from people walking by. The beauty and visual impact of the objects is what gets people’s attention, but what’s really interesting is seeing how different each person’s reaction is. Some people want to talk to us. Some want to just sit and watch. Some take a photo and keep moving. Some find the flags strange and have a lot of questions. Some find them perfectly ordinary, like it makes sense that they would stumble upon them at that moment. A lot of people want to help. We’re always happy to have the support, even if they only have time to dig a single hole and then they go on their way. We almost never announce them, so whoever happens to be walking by that day is who gets to see them. It’s about raising a flag and leaving it to chance. These accidental interactions are really what fascinates us about them.
Top: Flags, Ibiza, 2021, polaroids by Edgar Mosa
Bottom: Flags, installation in Paris for Loewe runway, 2022, polaroids by Edgar Mosa