Pa’lante

The Momentary Flag Project asks artists to explore the symbolic resonance of flags and consider how they shape our understanding of place and identity. Through this project, they hope to continue adding new stories and perspectives to the history of the Momentary’s site in Bentonville, Arkansas. Pa’lante is Carrejo’s response to the flag project.

Over the last decade Carrejo has had conversations with family, friends, and acquaintances regarding immigration, place, identity, and nationalism. Each conversation is unique, though consistently there is a political and social tension regarding place, identity, and a desire to help those who are fleeing less than desirable circumstances.  Pa’lante, is a meditation on these conversations, immigration patterns, and a desire to seek out mutual understanding. The flag is composed of five, flat, visual layers stacked on top of one another to create a flag for social and political progress.

The background layer consists of a block pattern from the Pew Research Center visualizing immigration patterns from Latin America, Europe, and Asian. The next three layers are a silhouette of a broken chain link fence, a pattern comprising a quartered circle referring time and an olive branch. At the forefront Pa’lante sits atop the layers. Loosely translated it means ‘onward,’ ‘forward,’ or ‘go for it.’  It is an informal, casual word like the casual conversations Carrejo hopes the visitors of the Momentary have with their friends and family while on the grounds looking at the flag.  And maybe, though conversation, care, and listening, we may get a little closer to understanding what it means to move forward with each other.