Saturday July 19 * 10am * Free / donations * REGISTER

For more than 10 years, Johns Hopkins professor Matt Pavesich has documented over 1,000 ways that Washingtonians get creative with the D.C. flag, a project called DC/Adapters (dcadapters.org). This public research project has evolved into an illustrated guide to the graffiti aesthetics and local politics of Washington, D.C., including commentary on gentrification, arts and culture, and local political causes, such as D.C. statehood and home rule. 

This event will begin with highlights of the DC/Adapters archive, including hidden adapted flags around the neighborhoods, how people artistically advocate for causes they believe in, and how some of these designs even speak back and forth to each other, debating the past, present, and future of D.C. 

Then, we’ll shift into a creative workshop, drawing on the lessons of the archive. D.C. flag adaptation kits will be provided, and participants will become public artists by adapting their own flag designs to support the local issues they care most about.  

Matt Pavesich has lived in Washington, D.C. since 2011, where he taught writing at Georgetown University from 2011 through 2021 before becoming director of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Program in 2021. His research and teaching focus on writing and the public humanities.