Here’s my flag design entry for The Stranger’s contest to design a new Seattle flag:
The new flag represents the ubiquity of Amazon’s influence in the city and its literal penetration of city hall, beginning with its $350,000 “donation” to Mayor Jenny “Durkazon” in 2017 and its recent $250,000 investments in our upcoming city council races, all a part of a larger business PAC known as Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy (CASE) which wants to unseat national visionary for wage justice, Kshama Sawant, and place the council fully in the hands of corporate CEOs.
What kind of corporate popular hybrid will Amazon’s infiltration birth? It’s not easy to be certain, but there will likely be fewer regulations, more development, still more traffic, higher rents, a greater wealth gap, more whack a mole on the homeless, fewer artists and the end of the resident Orca whales. And, Jeff Bezos will be smiling.
Artist Kseniia Zhuk helped me realize my concept for a city flag that best represents the present moment. She’s a graduate of the National Academy of Fine Art and Architecture in Ukraine.
She was fun to work with, cheerily embracing my request we backtrack from my initial “spermier” concept … no one I showed it to laughed:
A patron at my neighborhood coffeehouse brilliantly suggested the ID cards.
It’s not the first time I’ve found an artist to help comment on Amazon’s outsized impacts on the city. Here’s Amazocalypse helping Zoe find the Space Needle which has disappeared amongst all the new construction:
And, it won’t be the last time 😉 …
I’m not sure if The Stranger’s “esteemed flag designers” will place us in to the final round of their contest, but if they do, the public will be able to vote for our flag design. In the meantime, please help spread the word and generate some grass roots support!
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