Sanctuary Flags

Workshop on November 11, 2025
Designed and Printed November 2025

In response to the increasingly militarized policing and stigmatization of immigrants within the United States and global west, the Migration Scholars Mobilize Network called for a day of simultaneous global in-person teach-ins/outs to happen in locations around the world on 11 November 2025. These locally situated, globally simultaneous actions will build on the themes “A War on Migrants is a War on All of US; Migration is a Social Good: We Stand with Migrants.”

As part of Reed College’s event responding to this call, I led an artmaking project in which participants could decorate and elaborate on the phrase “This is a Sanctuary,” printed on a square of fabric. Earlier in the event, a talk was given on the history of the concept of “sanctuary,” detailing the social and legal applications of that term to cities (such as Portland, OR) and institutions (such as Reed College itself.) This talk led to a lively discussion of the neoliberal complacency around the term and the ways in which 'sanctuary’ can be enacted in productive and protective ways.

The flags themselves then become an interesting quandary: do you display them outwardly, towards the world, indicating the intent of your political alliance? Or do you project them inward, as a sort of shield and message to signal to those who enter your space that you will work as their comrade, standing between them and the fascists? There are many subtleties to the way that these squares of fabric can be used, and we didn’t find one conforming answer amongst the participants in the workshop.