Flags of Peace (NL) honoured me with an invitation to design an international peace flag to represent my country (Uruguay) in their international exhibition Flags of Peace which travels around the world.

Many bold designers and studios have already joined the great cause behind this project by designing the flag for their respective countries. I believe that for a flag to be International it has to represent/address all cultures equally. Therefore, we cannot rely on words, since language only represents a certain culture. Although there are some symbols that are internationally associated with peace, when looking at their origins research showed me that, for the most part, they either originally represented something else or were linked to a specific religion. Accordingly, the use of them was judged inappropriate.

I observed that there are normally two sides in a conflict putting peace away, where either two persons or groups (nations, towns, etc.) are confronted for things such as religion, genre, skin color, social class, origins, and so on. For peace to take place, these two sides need to come to terms and see each other as equals in order to impart mutual respect.

My flag carries a message of hope, showing these opposite sides finding common ground, complementing each other and sharing, instead of dividing or excluding. Symmetry was used as a means of representing equality and balance between two sides that despite looking different (color), they are equals (surface and shape). The symmetrical image is also an analogy for a mirror, encouraging people to find a piece of themselves in the one in front of us.