One of the most playful areas of application of the symbolism of national colours is definitely the countless number of souvenirs, which sell well at home and equally well amongst tourists, being the case all over the world. T-shirts and caps, refrigerator magnets and key rings, beer mugs and vodka drams – what someone does or does not need, everything can be whitewashed and marked with the colours of the flag. Today is not the day for us to take advantage of the opportunity to rebuke the hypocrisy of the market economy. Today is the day we should take a look at what this mechanism inside us is that starts up the cursed wheels of capitalism moving. And what we find inside ourselves by looking this way, may not be worth cursing.

Beloved Olympic champions have covered themselves with the flag while running victory laps in the stadium, as have respected guests when shaking hands with the president on the long carpet. Madam Minister is not the only one, who has dressed themselves in a blue-black-white dress. I saw a young Russian girl in a mini dress with the same colouring in the centre of the city of Saint Petersburg a year and a half ago – it turned out that even though she did not speak Estonian, her roots are on this side of the Eastern border. She wore the dress with pride and was not even afraid to get beat up on the street. The discussions in this case, about where the sanctity of the country’s flag starts and ends, have remained secondary and arguments such as “putting the homeland on the world map” or “free expression of patriotism” have become primary. It is not even important if those explanations are sufficient or not. It is important that those three colours move someone.

After all those years and decades, which have been spent on silencing the colours and bringing them to light many times, it cannot be blamed that our national flag offers some playfulness. Sincerely, without irony – what could be a more noble purpose of national symbolism than to offer the creation of overwhelming feelings in the thoughts and hearts of those who are closely or further related to the symbolism? In those, who have the right to these colours, after bondage, after the cancellations of pacts? Yes, there are those who wrap themselves in the national flag based on their narcissistic motives, i.e. the need to admire oneself and be admired. Let us be honest, a little Narcissus is hidden in all of us, but as long as it remains within healthy limits and does not hurt anyone else, this should not be overdramatized.

One of the playgrounds, in which free self-expression and dealing with national worship symbols is more acceptable, is fine arts. Again – such freedom has not always been taken for granted in the history of Estonian national art. Amongst artists, there have been those, who, because of mortal fear or on the contrary, because of a lust for life, have painted sickles as well as hammers, cut collective farmers and industrialists into stone, graved factories and party buildings into steel and wood. In equal measure there have been those who hid swallows and cornflowers between their brush strokes; and amongst them, those for whom the danger of getting caught was their only source of adrenaline. It is paradoxical how much valuable art from the perspective of nationalism has been born from the prohibition of birth, figuratively stated, and pushed to the limits of gestation. At the same time – forbidden fruit is supposed to be the sweetest.

One of the modern Estonian painters, whose national symbolism and its iconicity has been characteristic of and close to our hearts for years, is Mall Nukke. If only recently she was discussing photography, among other things, in this very same portal, then today it is topical to talk about how she created an exhibition full of paintings inspired by the national colours using the arsenal on photorealism. She has put little pearls between the almost three-dimensional and tangible cloth pleats, which are blue-black-white as well as euro-yellow, on top of which she has sprayed red sprits. She knotted three coloured cloth strips together in the background of a stormy sky, she put yogi, in a thick latex costume, to pose in a square frame. In a frame that cannot be seen on the painting, but which could still be foreseen – whether noticing the tense facial muscles of the model or by sensing the gallery’s ceiling, floor, walls and corners, sensing the tension, which accompanies the prohibition of playing as well as the freedom of playing.

“It is my wish that it would be possible to hold things in your hand and examine them closely,” said Mall Nukke almost 15 years ago when she held her first exhibition at the Haus Gallery, and this year’s new exhibition “TriColourGames” will provide that – the national flag, which has been raised to the status of icon is outside not just for worship and viewing from a distance, but could downright be walked on. The artist has previously finely smirked at the symbol faces of pop culture and also similarly handled religious and national motives. Achieving a playful and fun, but always glamorous result, her works do not end up being ironical towards the religious or national icons, but rather modern “madness” and capitalist values.

Indeed, a critical sense towards the world around us and towards oneself never hurts; however, as mentioned above, national symbolism is something that can be used to look deep inside for a moment, and to make your personal values your personal icon. One of the sources of inspiration for Mall Nukke in the particular exhibition has been the meanings of the Estonian flag colours, she plays with the Estonian sky and rivers, religion and loyalty; homeland’s soil, ethnic coat and gloomy past; with the effort towards happiness and light. What do these words mean to you?

On the 99^th anniversary of Estonian Republic, 24 February, 2017