There was no blueprint.

Just paint, decades-old memorabilia, and a head full of ideas.

In just two weeks, Bunker Hill resident Luis Nino transformed his late parents’ home into a patriotic explosion of American flag art.

Reflecting on both the troubling times of today and his own past experiences, Nino sent a letter to President Donald Trump suggesting changes be made to the flag code. He titled it “Pablo Nino’s Patriotic Pride Act,” after his father.

“I see us being the Divided States of America,” Nino said. “Something has to change, something has to try to bring us together as one nation.”

And Nino thinks patriotic art could be an important part of that. So he chose to raise awareness of his proposition through his mini museum of red, white and blue.

“Instead of joining the verbal fight, I decided to make a difference by doing art,” Nino said.

Nino knew exactly what he wanted before he began hanging any artwork. He imagined exactly where he wanted the flags, how he wanted to paint the floor, and which curtains he wanted to use over the window – and he searched on eBay for a week to locate the stars and stripes fabric now hanging there.

If Nino couldn’t find what he needed, he made it. He cut a piece of wood into the shape of Indiana and painted a flag on top. He drew a cartoon of a man decked in stars and stripes carrying the flag, a bald eagle, and a gold star on his back near a grave of veteran tombstones, over which he wrote, “You are not forgotten.”

Outside, he designed a flag with stars that light up at night on both sides. He built a memorial wall to honor fallen veterans that were killed after 9/11, and named it Gunnery Sergeant Nino’s Fallen Indiana Hoosier Hero’s Memorial Wall. He created a 10-foot by 15-foot American flag that now sits in the front yard.

Indoors, his parents’ former living room is now filled with U.S.A. flags, bumper stickers and figurines. The room also contains photographs and newspaper clippings of Nino and his family. In the center, a photograph of Nino and his father sits next to a framed t-shirt.

“The last shirt my dad wore was a shirt that read ‘Pure American, Live Free’ with an American flag, an eagle, and an eye of an eagle,” Nino said. He decorated the shirt with various marine, flag, and USA insignias. “I imagine him putting that shirt on and standing a little taller,” Nino said.

His personal hero, Pablo, was a great inspiration to the project, along with Nino’s experience with the Marines.

Some years ago, Nino became a Casualty Assistance Call Officer and helped bury the first Hoosier Marines who were killed during the Iraq war.

The physical act of folding flags for fallen veterans was moving.

“I went from seeing Marines’ mothers, wives, girlfriends, and daughters cry when we folded our American Flag 13 folds and kneeled to give them our country colors as a token of appreciation for their fallen Marines sacrifice,” Nino said. “To seeing 50 of our Marine wounded warriors with no arms and no legs, broken body men and women, broken bodies – but not with broken spirits.”

Labels overshadow an important truth, that we’re all Americans. “When it’s cold, you’re cold and I’m cold,” Nino said. “When gas prices go up, we pay the same price. We all lose our family.”

To honor those who died during war, Nino would like to sow gold stars on their flags.

But he hopes to inspire the community to honor fallen veterans in other ways, while encouraging people to come together over their commonalities.

And one way to start is making more art.

After two weeks of butt-busting work, Nino completed his masterpiece. “Tonight I want to drink a good beer and have a good steak,” Nino said.

Painting the red and white stripes, etching the tombstones, and hanging the flags imparted a sense of tranquility upon Nino.

“Doing all this has helped save me,” Nino said. “Instead of being bitter, this made me happy.”

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