The idea behind my ‘Traveling Birds and the Flags of Dharma’ comes from the helplessness I feel when confronted with the condition of today’s world — the relentless abuse of our environment, the growing gap between the rich and poor, the unchecked ascendancy of an age of money and the seeming impotence of popular movements such as the Arab Spring, amongst others.  In response I have wanted to create selfless art and infuse it with symbols of altruism, love, compassion, charity, wisdom and peace.

I have made a series of Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags; the flags mostly have photographs and collaged images of birds on them. The birds’ shapes are reproduced using carpets, tiles and china and are meant to represent the voyage through life.  The photographs, in turn, carry their own meaning, with each image an allegory or a visual symbol of a particular concept.  The colours I have chosen are also symbolic – blue representing sky and space; white representing air and wind; red representing fire; green representing water and yellow representing earth.  The flags themselves are made of special fabric unique to sails.

Prayer flags are generally found at a height, such as on mountain top monasteries, across hill tops or even on the roofs of tall buildings. Tibetans believe that wind takes with it the flags’ good fortune and good wishes, delivering them to all.  It is for this reason that I want my audience to be in direct contact with my flags. Also, Tibetans mark the cyclical continuity of life, and their ever present hope, by always hanging new flags besides the old ones.  I have

done the same.”

Afsoon