"Don't Waddle On Me"

This piece was honestly much more of a controversial concept than I would normally introduce in my artwork. The theme for this project was the concept of systems. The first thing I thought about was how ducks have their system. One of them is a leader and they all follow the leader, like the phrase “get your ducks in a row!” They also communicate with each other when they find food through head bobbing, and different types of quacking. I wanted to combine this in my piece, but I honestly wanted something more conceptual then having some ducks arranged in a line.
I was talking to a classmate about what I could do, and she mentioned something along the lines of “You should have an army of ducks!” I loved this idea, and it also inspired me to discuss the corrupt system of war in my piece, especially with everything that is currently going on in Ukraine and Israel. The cute ducks that are creating this destruction in the background are supposed to provoke a feeling like I am hiding the impact of what war is actually like, kind of like how places like the US and especially Russia are hiding the true effect that war has on the innocent civilians who are experiencing it.
I created this flag with different types of dyes and inks, specifically the dyes in the background to represent the destruction, and the inks to make the army of ducks stand out. I wanted the ducks to be more eye-catching than the destruction around them.
The phrase “Don’t Waddle On Me” is supposed to be a play the “Don’t Tread on Me” statement during the American Revolution. The original statement is supposed to intimidate the British, to basically say ‘Don’t mess with me!’ This play on words feels like I’m suppressing the intimidation that the beginning statement provoked. This is also the reason why I made the piece into a flag, to kind of “rub it in their face” like the other flag does too.
If I were to change anything about this piece, I would probably add explosions around the background, creating a bit of a more intense look. Part of me thinks that the piece is really simple. But other than that, I am proud of the concept I created and I hope that this piece provokes the same feeling and questions that I asked during the process of creating the final piece.

PHOTO CREDIT TO: Christine A. Holtz