This edition is dedicated to Winnie Huang, who asked me a while ago to dedicate my first book to her. Winnie, I hope this is close enough; but if I write a novel anytime soon, I’ll keep you in mind.
The theme for this edition is Flags. In essence, a flag is a large rectangular piece of cloth, but for this rectangle, wars have been waged, blood has been shed, communities have been put together and torn apart, and identities have been forged and remade anew. We use them to drive people apart, and to bring people together. Why do flags mean so much to us? This is the question that fuels this edition, and each of our wonderful reporters have a different answer. Within these pages, we’ve got Avin Dabiri musing on the meaning of the white flag, Akanksha Agarwal taking us on a journey through her past homes, Pia Curran leading us through the labyrinth of USyd’s bathroom graffiti, Will Winter taking artistic licence to use a lot of slurs, and Ananya Thirumalai debating the dilemna of the lesbian flag. Plus my Mardi Gras coverage: you will not believe how chaotic it was. Way more sprinting there than your traditional Mardi Gras.
I’d like to say a special thank you to my reporters, who did a fantastic job in this edition. And one more thank you to Victor Zhang, formerly part of my reporter group and now anointed the 10th editor of Honi. Welcome to the team, Victor!
I hope you enjoy this week’s edition of Honi, and that it leaves a lingering impression of the colours of the world.
Love,
Imogen
Companion Piece, Akanksha Agarwal
The Butterfly Effect
This piece is a meditation on the role that flags, places, ideas, and movements play in our individual metamorphosis, and ultimately, our collective metamorphosis. The butterfly represents healing, growth, and all the flags represent our shared humanity despite differences. The inverted half-split butterfly signifies the triumph of harmony, and justice regardless of the environment. While we grapple with a warming climate, wars around the world, and the disregard for human rights, the butterfly reminds us of our unanimous strength in the face of adversity. I’ve tried to move beyond notions of flags as merely symbols of geographical patriotism to movements such as the feminist flag to represent the power of flags in advocating for change. Ultimately, the hope is to celebrate differences, and find an intersectional space of unity.
