This is a series of hand-embroidered flags featuring quotes and portraits of political prisoners in Russia. SPEECH(LESS) means "mute" or "having lost the gift of speech due to a traumatic event." We placed LESS in parentheses because many courageous individuals in Russia are not silent and continue to fight. It is important for as many people in the world as possible to learn about them.

We chose flags as the form for the project because we like this accessible way for everyone to express support by hanging a flag in a window. Speech(less) is a dynamic social project that is seeking its place in the urban environment.

In our project Speech(less) we aim to initiate a discussion about the extent to which people in democratic developed countries can understand citizens of authoritarian police states. And whether they need to.

The project invites the audience to reflect on their own experiences of propaganda and restrictions on freedom of speech, be that imposed by the state or popular public opinion.

In London we hung flags in the windows of friends who share our anti-war stance, and paper versions of the flags in phone booths.

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