Description

Senses the Union Jack graffiti art  is a work that takes the familiar geometry of the British flag and deliberately unsettles it. What initially reads as a stable national symbol is disrupted by layered text and sprayed marks that demand closer attention, shifting the flag from an emblem of certainty into a site of questioning.

Across the surface appear Steit’s recurring sensory pairings, presented without hierarchy: HEAR&LISTEN, LEARN&KNOW, LOOK&SEE, SMELL&SCENT, TASTE&SAVOUR, and TOUCH&FEEL. These pairings are not simple descriptions of the senses. They highlight small but meaningful differences in language that shape how experience is processed, understood, and controlled.

The use of spray paint and graffiti stencils introduces immediacy and resistance. These techniques reference unsanctioned public expression layered over an official symbol, creating tension between authority and interruption. Splatters of gold, red, and blue push the image into a state of movement, as if the flag itself is unstable or mid-transformation.

Rather than offering resolution, the work interrupts inherited narratives tied to empire and national identity. It asks the viewer to slow down and re-engage with perception itself, to question prescribed ways of seeing, hearing, and knowing. In a present shaped by contested histories and plural identities, the act of sensing becomes a form of embodied connection that resists simplified stories and fixed meanings.

Created in Derbyshire, UK, June 2025.

Original artwork specifications

• Stretched Canvas
• Glossy Spray paint Gold & Multi colour
• Varnish
• 60 x 60 x 1.5 cm
• Unique artwork

Canvas may have a slight size deviation up to a few millimetres.