University leaders, art-lovers, and community members gathered at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts and Bellarmine Hall on January 22, 2026, to celebrate the opening of Fairfield University Art Museum’s highly anticipated, major loan exhibition—For Which It Stands…
With 48 lenders—and art arriving to campus from as far away as Hawaii—the exhibition includes more than 70 works depicting the American flag across more than a century, from World War I-era pieces to contemporary works.
Framing the Flag
Carey Mack Weber, Frank and Clara Meditz Executive Director of the Fairfield University Art Museum, welcomed attendees to the official opening of For Which It Stands…, an exhibition that she has been working to curate for the past five years.
Weber noted that the included works represent a diverse group of artists and perspectives—from overtly patriotic pieces to those rooted in protest. “It’s my hope that this exhibition inspires viewers to confront our past, understand the present, and imagine what might come next,” she said.
Fairfield University President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, reflected on the role of higher education in the American experiment. “American higher education is the foundation of American exceptionalism,” he said, before introducing the evening’s featured speaker, Aaron Q. Weinstein, PhD, of the John Charles Meditz College of Arts and Sciences.
“The Two Flags in American Politics”
Dr. Weinstein, an assistant professor of politics at Fairfield, serves as the faculty liaison for the exhibition. His lecture, titled “The Two Flags in American Politics,” explored the American flag as both a sacred object and a speech object.
Dr. Weinstein posed a question to the audience: “How does the flag make you feel?” He projected an image of the American flag, then followed it with The Soiling of Old Glory—the iconic Stanley Forman photograph currently on view in the exhibition—prompting an immediate shift in the auditorium.
“Even something we see as non-religious can be experienced religiously,” said Dr. Weinstein, describing the flag as a totem—serving as an emblem or revered symbol. “When a totem is attacked, it feels as if the group itself is attacked.”
“Unity and difference are baked into our DNA,” Dr. Weinstein reminded the audience, pointing to the traditional motto of the United States, E pluribus unum, or “Out of many, one.”
And yet, he affirmed, “The flag doesn’t tell us who we are. We tell it what it means.”
One Museum, Two Spaces
Following the lecture, audience members became the exhibition’s first attendees—stepping into the Walsh Gallery and Bellarmine Hall Galleries to engage with works that reflect the complexity of the American flag and to continue the dialogue sparked by the evening’s program.
For Which It Stands… is on view through July 25, 2026. Learn more at fairfield.edu/museum.
