The Metropolis

Is it time to reclaim the swastika?

Mike Pollitt | Friday 10 June, 2011 13:38

●

I only ask because The British Museum is full of them. You can see them adorning this ancient Greek vase, which I snapped myself. Here they are decorating an Anglo Saxon urn from Norfolk, dating from the 6th century AD. Here is one on a Roman serving dish found in Gaul. Here are some on Arabic metalwork from what we now call Iraq. Here is a Flickr group collecting more examples and attempting the impossible: to reclaim this image from it’s 20th century associations. I think we’re some time away from having that sort of perspective, there are still people living who suffered under the Nazis. But it’s good to remember that images don’t have only one meaning. And that to some extent we can choose what meaning we want things to have.

Filed in:

Snipe Highlights

Some popular articles from past years

  1. Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
  2. An interview with Desiree Akhavan
  3. A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
  4. The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
  5. Peter Bayley has worked for 50 years as a cinema projectionist in East Finchley
  6. The best church names in London, and where they come from
  7. Only 16 commuters touch in to Emirates Air Line, figures reveal
  8. Diary of the shy Londoner
  9. Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
  10. The five best places in London to have an epiphany