Liberated Freed From the Flagpole

About the Book

"Robert Carley's new book is a salute to America's great national symbol, our flag. But it is much more than that. It is a reminder to us now when our people seem so divided of how we pulled together after the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01, and how in the twenty years since then the American people's creative love of our flag has expressed our patriotism, shared values, and unity. Robert's pictures will strengthen you and give you hope about our future."
—Joe Lieberman, U.S. Senator from Connecticut, 1989 - 2013

“Liberated from the Flagpole will inspire and move one to remember those bittersweet times right after the World Trade Towers fell. As Governor of the state of Connecticut at the time I called every family that lost a loved one and shared many personal moments with them. This book documents not just how Connecticut residents but how all Americans kept the faith and persevered. They demonstrated these characteristics using our national symbol, the flag. But not ordinary fabric flags; flags created from unusual materials because traditional flags had sold out. I thank Bob for preserving these pictures of unsung patriots and their flag tributes. This was a time of goodwill and faith, qualities that are in short supply these days."
—John G. Rowland, Governor of Connecticut, 1995 to 2004 Currently development director for the Prison Fellowship ministry

"In Liberated from the Flagpole, photographer Robert Carley offers us a rich and lush compendium of how diverse Americans have celebrated the national symbol since 9/11, integrating it into their everyday lives as both a reinforcement of identity and a comfort in times of stress. Vivid, striking, distinctive – this is a memorable collection, worthy of both praise and study."
—Dr. Scot Guenter, professor emeritus of American studies from San Jose State University, and internationally known vexillologist and scholar of the American flag

About the Author

Robert Carley was born in New Orleans,
Louisiana. His mother was the daughter of a French ambassador and his father was president of a large advertising agency based in New Orleans. His great uncle, Maxime Leroy, was a great historian and an elite member of the Académie Française.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a BA, double majoring in political science and fine arts. Over the past 20 years, Carley has had the opportunity, mostly due to layoffs — first as a result of 9/11 and again thanks to the financial crisis of 2009 — to take multiple flag photo, cross-country road trips. To help support his photography financially, he became a SAG background actor working on many hit TV shows, such as “Blue Bloods,” “Law and Order,” “Person of Interest” and “Elementary.” He has also worked on movies and was featured in several, including the Academy Award-winning movie Still Alice.
Carley’s photographs have been featured on the websites of the BBC, Microsoft News, National Journal, Baltimore Sun, The Washington Times, Hartford Courant, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine and Connecticut Magazine. He has had solo shows of his flag photos at the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Museum in Baltimore, the Museum of Connecticut History in Hartford, the Connecticut State Capitol, and for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum selected 165 of his photographs for their permanent collection.
Carley was so inspired by taking photos of other people’s flag tributes that he started making his own. These flags were fashioned out of coffee-cup lids, creamer containers, water bottles, automobile tires, shuttle cocks, tape cassettes, VHS tapes and egg cartons. His paper clip flag (above) was chosen for an exhibit by well-known sculptor James Grashow. Many of these creations were featured on news broadcasts in New York City, Hartford, Connecticut, and in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
Carley’s other artistic pursuits include caricature and abstract art. A caricature of George H.W. Bush was exhibited in a show titled “To the President: Folk Portraits by the People” at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in 1994. One of his abstract drawings was awarded Best in Show at the Greenwich Art Society by a curator from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.