Performed for the 55th Annual People’s Flag Show, Judson Memorial Church, New York.

ReStitch is an interactive performance that interrogates the American flag as a symbol of “liberty and justice for all” as well as challenges its sanctity in times of extremist suppression. Building upon the themes of Devine’s community-based and interactive performances, this project confronts American mythologies through women’s labor and cultural identity.

Sitting in a rocking chair—an emblem of domestic Americana and imagery of Betsy Ross—methodically sewing together a new American flag from disparate materials, the performance begins with scraps of an authentic deconstructed flag: its stars, red and white stripes, severed into their component parts. Alongside these fragments is a pile of other fabrics and materials of different symbolisms: denim, prison uniform cloth, metallic emergency blankets used at migrant detention centers, and camouflage fabric. 

Viewers will also be invited to contribute their own scraps as the flag is restitched. The act embodies both rupture and repair, interrogating the ideals stitched into the nation’s fabric and how they can be reimagined or resisted in collective hands. The resulting new object is now included in the People’s Flag Show Archives of Judson Memorial Church.