Nadia's Flag

 

Represent and Support

During my process of figuring out what would represent me, I remembered how certain countries used national symbols like flowers to represent themselves and their culture, so I decided to follow suit. I'm Dominican, and the national flower for my country is the bayahibe rose. However, despite my frequent visits to the Dominican Republic for family, I've never seen it before in person, since it only grows in the southeast of the country. Therefore, the hibiscus, pictured in the center, became my personal representation for the Dominican Republic and my cultural heritage. Though it may not be the nationally accepted representation of the country, much like how I'm not the "most Dominican," being someone who's very Americanized, this is the flower I grew up around in DR, and it's what I associate with my culture and who I am. Three different flowers surround the hibiscus, a lily, a sunflower, and hyacinths, representing the favorite flowers of my closest friends over the years. None of the flowers really look all that similar, and yet they still come together to make something cohesive. These three people have supported me and have been there for me for years, and without them I wouldn't really be the person I am today. They've had so much influence on my life and my perspectives, that they have cemented themselves as some of the most important people in my life right now. None of the flowers are fully colored in, mainly outlined, demonstrating how all of us are still in the process of growing as individuals, but we're all still supporting each other as we continue through college and life. While my flag doesn't contain any traditional text like Dahlia Elsayed's work does, flowers often contain their own symbolic meanings, and are used to communicate messages to others when gifted to others. As I was working on this flag, I learned that pink hibiscuses represent friendship, while lilies, sunflowers, and hyacinths all partially communicate devotion, loyalty, and constancy, which my friends have definitely provided. Additionally, this flag is how I take something "out of the personal realm and turn it into something more universal," as Dahlia explains. While my individual experience with my friends is personal, friendship in general is something most people can relate to, and most people are partial to a particular flower, so I was able to make a more universal representation of who I am and what I'm made up of, summarized by its title, "Represent and Support".