Americana Amor? or no more...
October 6, 2017
Molly Tierney
Nina R Salerno
Woody O' Toole
Performance was approximately 30 min took place in Altadena, Ca as part of the Terrain Exhibitions
Video clip
This Flag is a discard from a painting, using the proper protocol and procedure according to the US Flag Code Sec. 176 to retire it.
On June 21, 1989, a deeply divided United States Supreme Court upheld the rights of protesters to burn the American flag.
“When a U.S. flag is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
AMERICANA AMOR? OR NO MORE… is a live performance ritual that subverts the traditional American flag retirement ceremony—a practice often associated with patriotism, nationalism, and masculine-coded structures like the Boy Scouts or military institutions. The work interrogates the sanctity of the flag not by desecrating it, but by reclaiming its ritual with tenderness, power, community, and quiet defiance but also by the proper USA flag code.
The performance begins with a performers dressed in white reading aloud the official Boy Scouts’ flag retirement code—a document heavy with reverence, spectacle, and coded masculinity. As the text is read, a discarded American flag is brought forth and ceremonially cut into pieces.
Each fragment is held, considered, and then carried slowly along a narrow fire path, where it is released stripe by stripe into the flames.
The fire becomes both crematory and crucible of power structures and ideas imbedded into its symbolism.
As the last piece burns, a group of women dressed in white rises from the audience—a nod to the women’s suffrage. They approach the fire not with mourning, but with transformation. Each woman carries marshmallows, which she slowly roasts over the fire born from the flag’s ashes. Then, in an act of radical softness, the women feed marshmallows to the audience—offering sweetness, warmth, and care in the face of centuries of state violence, war, and patriarchal control.
This performance reclaims ritual as a space for critique and nourishment. It asks: What does it mean to “honor” a symbol that has historically excluded women?
Americana amor or no more is a collective ritual of release and reclamation.
Hello, Remember Me? Some people call me Old Glory; others call me The Star Spangled Banner. Whatever name you call me, I am your flag, the flag of the United States of America. Something has been bothering me, so I thought I might talk it over with you; because it's about you and me.
I remember some time ago, people would line up on both sides of the street to watch the parades. Naturally I was leading everyone, proudly waving in the breeze.
When your daddy saw me coming, he immediately removed his hat and placed it against his left shoulder so that his hand was directly over his heart. Remember?
And you, I remember, were standing there straight as a soldier. You didn't have a hat on but you were giving the right salute. Remember your little sister? Not to be outdone, she was saluting the same as you with her hand over her heart. Remember?
What happened? I'm still the same Old Flag. Oh, I've added a few more stars since you were a boy, and a lot more blood has been shed since those parades of long ago. By now, somehow, I don't feel as proud as I used to feel. When I come down the street, you just stand there with your hands in your pockets. You may give me a small glance, then you look away. I see children running around you shouting. They don't seem to know who I am. I saw one man take his hat off, and when he didn't see anyone else take off his or her hat, he quickly put his back on.
Is it a sin to be patriotic today? Have you forgotten what I stand for, and where I've been?
When you salute me, you are actually saluting them.
Well, it won't be long until I'll be coming down the street again. When you see me, please stand straight and place your hand over your heart, and I'll know that you remembered.
I'll salute you by waving back.
