Guardians over the city is a part of the Flags series, annually commissioned by Temple Bar Gallery + Studios for Wellington Quay on the occasion of Culture Night.
Guardians over the city is a series of flags inspired by Samir Mahmood’s use of Indo-Persian miniature painting, which is rich in detail and storytelling. Motifs, colour and symbols draw inspiration from gardens, water and skylines found in such paintings. They suggest a spiritual, peaceful space within the fusion of cultures and communities of the city, even where challenges are experienced across communities that require attention. The artist sees the flags as portals for imagination and as guardians of the city, a place to transcend your current situation and see things as beautiful and better. They seek a higher level of understanding, mindful of everyone’s life in the city.
Along the Liffey quays, Mahmood’s flags inspire moments of mindfulness in an urban landscape. Like the art in the galleries and museums, Flags: Guardians over the city gives a moment to be contemplative and still.
Flag Descriptions
Flag 1: The garden as a symbol of paradise and utopia across religions, a symbol of a place of happiness, a place to gather.Flag 2: Referencing Jaali (a perforated stone or latticed screen) as a symbol of paradise and utopia across religions. Jaali allows light and air to pass through while offering protection from the sun and rain.
Flag 3: The Urdu word Qarar (قرار) primarily translates to agreement, peace, or tranquillity. It can also refer to residence, dwelling, or settlement, and in a more abstract sense, to permanence, stability, or firmness. Additionally, it can refer to a state of rest, repose, or quietness.
Flag 4: The Star, a Persian miniature symbol, radiating hope. Landscape, sky and cloud motifs.
Flag 5: The number 0 is a spiritual symbol and also visually resembles a circle; it symbolises eternity, oneness, potential, infinity, wholeness, cycles and flow, listening to your intuition, and the beginning of a spiritual journey. Like an atom is to the physical world and a soul to the spiritual world, the zero is symbolic of both worlds.