Maryam Najd | Botanic: National Amalgamation Project | Beijing 2019

Flowers have long been used to add hidden meanings to art. From the white lily in paintings of the Annunciation to the tulips of 18th-century Dutch still lifes, they have provided a visual shortcut for a range of themes, from purity and fidelity to wealth and lust. But flora are also used by countries to indicate a sense of identity. In England, the Tudor rose is loaded with meaning, an emblem of a unified kingdom; in France, the iris has become a symbol of nationhood. But for Iranian born artist, Maryam Najd, these flowers are about more than national emblems; they can also be used to highlight what unites us.

Najd’s exhibition at the Arthur M Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology at Peking University in Beijing is the product of more than 10 years of work. “This project transmits an imaginary world,” Najd says, “one which does not exist, but it may, if we believe in love for humanity”. She left her native Iran “in search of freedom”, and had high hopes for a better life. “I dreamed about a land where skin colour, nationality, social status and beliefs have no significance. Although I never found that dream, I didn’t stop fantasising and have created it in the form of artistic projects.”