Kamilaroi artist Archie Moore was selected from a shortlist of eight invited artists for this major public art commission for the Sydney Airport T1 International Terminal. The commission was the first partnership between Sydney Airport and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. The artist created the artwork in response to 19th-century anthropologist, RH Mathews' problematic map of 1900 which identified 28 Aboriginal 'nations'. Moore's 28 corresponding flag designs explore the intersection between identity, nationhood, falsehoods and authenticity.

The permanent installation of United Neytions at Sydney Airport is a larger version of the related work exhibited in The National: New Australian Art at Carriageworks, Sydney in 2017 and the 14 small scale linen prototypes commissioned by the University of Queensland for the 2014 exhibition, Courting Blakness: Recalibrating knowledge in the sandstone university, curated by Fiona Foley.