Mahmood Rezaei-Kamalabad
The Flag of Mercy
The Flag of Mercy disassembled. Photo: Marie Cieri
Owner/operator of Aladdin Auto Service in Cambridge, MA, Mahmood is also an artist and spiritual leader who has been involved with Artists in Context nearly since its inception in January 2009. He co-sponsored a work-in-progress film screening with us in his garage/art gallery, complete with Middle Eastern refreshments and a Japanese-American DJ, in May 2010, and we have been in conversation with him for the last two years or so about his involvement with the Prospectus. What AIC has decided to support and make part of the Prospectus is the final phase of The Flag of Mercy project, which Mahmood describes below:
In the Name of the Above
The Flag of Mercy
I am Mahmood, son of Abdul Hossein Rezaei-Kamalabad. I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States of America. During the past thirty years, the purpose of my work has been to reveal the connections between the major religions, so that in unity they will bring peace, humanity and security to the world as one body, one spirit. The mission of The Flag of Mercy is to educate people about peace, humanity, and security, in order to open the seventh gate, the Gate of Mercy in Jerusalem. By bringing the act of compassionate forgiveness into one’s life, one creates the ability to build peace, humanity, and security through family, community and around the world, nation to nation. The world as one body, one spirit.
The Flag of Mercy is black, which is representative of the absorbance of all the colors. Within black, all colors are equal in visibility. The green ring on the flag represents the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. The green ring is a symbol of the agreement between mankind and God for the continuation of all life. The green hand grasping the ring is the hand of God representing the power of God in holding the unity of the world. The pole that holds the flag has seven pieces, made of wood, connected together to form one piece. The one hundred and two names of God, including the greatest name, are written on these seven pieces. On the top of the flag pole is a metal hand with seven fingers which represents the seventh day of creation. The hand with seven fingers, representing the right and the left together in the divine vision, is marked with the third eye in the center of the palm and within the center of the eye the letter “Au.” The letter “Au” is the letter that comes before Alef. It is the sound frequency uttered at the creation of the Universe as it moved into a balanced form.
The Flag of Mercy journeyed across the United States in the Summer of 2009 to seven cities in seven different states. In each of these cities, the flag was raised at historical American landmarks. These sites included: Central Park in New York City, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the NASA Launch Site on Cape Canaveral, the beach of Lake Michigan in Chicago, the Great Salt Lake in Utah and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. In ceremony, a pray was made, the Sufi horn was blown three times, and the flag was raised three times. The repetition of three represents the three- dimensional depth of life. Since 2009, Mahmood has traveled to seven other countries including Canada, Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Iran, where the flag was raised in ceremony. Future sites of travel include India, China, Russia, England, and the final destination of this journey is to Jerusalem where he will hold the flag and perform the ceremony for the Golden Gate to open, allowing the sense of security, humanity and peace to pass through. Right now the Golden Gate is closed.
When the seventh gate, the Golden Gate opens, he will enter through it into the city and erect three stone columns to represent the presence of Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Buddhism within the Holy City. The Holy City will be established as the new zero time zone, the line between the east and the west, and through this declaration, the creation of a new space and time of one body, one spirit. It will create a place where Judaism, Christianity and Islam can exist in peace within a place for the first time in the history of mankind.
The Key of the Holy City, which Mahmood designed and made to symbolize the peace, humanity and security that will echo throughout the world, will be brought to the Holy City. It will remind the Jews, Christians, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Hindus and Buddhists of their shared responsibility to uphold the peace, with respect for each other.
Mahmood Rezaei-Kamalabad immigrated to the United States after high school in Iran and received BFA and MFA degrees from Massachusetts College of Art in the 1980s. He also started but did not complete a Ph.D. in the philosophies of Islamic and Western science at Boston University. As an artist, Mahmood works in large-scale sculpture and performance “to unite all religions as one spirit within the human body toward a greater truth.” Among his most important works are Flag of Mercy (ongoing); Sense of Unity Machine (2002); Center Drive Automobile (1996); and New Tools for Auto Repair (ongoing) and Sense of Unity Healing Machine (2013). His work and ideas have been featured in articles in The Boston Globe and Boston Phoenix as well as on BBC television and ABC’s Chronicle program. Most recently, he was interviewed on WGBH, Boston Public Radio, in conjunction with Cambridge Open Studios 2013. Additionally, Mahmood is owner/operator of Aladdin Auto Service in Cambridge, MA (“God is in the detailing.”)
