ARPEACEWA

This work is based on the popular italian “peace flag”.
My aim was to point out that War and Peace are not alternatives, but necessary polarities. With this vision in mind promoting Peace should not be an act “against” War, but simply the choice, in the infinite circular stream of the two, to focus on Peace instead. Infact because any act “against” something is an act of violence, to demonstrate against War is, in a sense, to promote it.

urban installation – 6×3 meters (2009 – Florence)

The rainbow flag was first used in Italy at a peace march in 1961. The flag was inspired by similar multi-coloured flags used in demonstrations against nuclear weapons. A previous version had featured a dove drawn by Pablo Picasso. The most common variety has seven colours — purple, blue, azure, green, yellow, orange, and red — and is emblazoned in bold with the Italian word PACE, meaning “peace”.
It became popular with the Pace da tutti i balconi (“peace from every balcony”) campaign in 2002, started as a protest against the impending war in Iraq. The flag was flown from balconies in all Italian cities by citizens against the war. Its use spread to other countries too, and the Italian Pace was sometimes, but not everywhere, replaced with the corresponding translation in the local languages.