The Stars and Stripes were proudly on display on Wednesday, July 17 at the Bruce Museum's opening of its new exhibit, "Flags Across America: The Photographs of Robert Carley." The exhibition runs until Sept. 22 and features over 40 photographic prints and 60 photos via video display capturing various images of the American flag. These range from red, white, and blue milk jugs in the shape of the flag, a flag-themed hot air balloon in Litchfield, Conn. taking flight to unique pictures of flag-painted buildings and cars among many other depictions of Old Glory.
Carley, of Darien, got the inspiration to travel the country by car and take these photographs of the flag after the Sept. 11 attacks. "I had been working in Stamford on 9/11 and heard about the attack on the World Trade Center via my car radio while driving to work," he said at the exhibition's opening reception. "I saw the towers on fire across Long Island Sound from my office, and it affected me deeply."
Shortly thereafter, Carley began to notice more and more homemade U.S. flags on display after those in stores sold out. "The resilient quality of Americans began to show, and it was evident by the display of so many flags," he said. "That time was probably one of the greatest periods of unity in American history." Carley, who had worked in the corporate world as an illustrator and artist, was one of many whose jobs were downsized after 9/11. One day soon after, he was driving around Norwalk, where he lived at the time, and saw an elderly man riding a bike with a flag painted on it. Carley decided to put a camera that he had inherited to use and find the man to take a picture of the bike. As luck would have it, he succeeded and thus used his newfound spare time to begin his quest (beginning in Conn. and New York) to find interesting flag images. His journey has covered 43 states thus far.
Carley's photographs capture the country's heightened patriotic spirit in the aftermath of the tragedy and show an ingenuity in terms of the flag's depictions: a seaplane painted with the Stars and Stripes in Danbury; actress Celeste Holm posing next to a painted flag-adorned car at the Greenwich Auto Show and a Florida life guard station painted as Old Glory to name but a few.
Carley relies on a network ranging from family, friends to various police stations across the country for tips on where to find the flags. "I think a lot of my photos are metaphors for our country," he remarked. "For example, flags painted on houses to me symbolize that all of us are under one roof, so to speak."
Carley will be continuing his journey to photograph more flags, this time taking on the Southwest and West Coast. "I like to look at what we can celebrate in America and the great qualities and character of Americans," he said.
"Flags Across America: The Photographs of Robert Carley" runs until Sept. 22. The Bruce Museum is located at One Museum Drive, Greenwich. For more information call (203) 869-0376 or visit brucemuseum.org.