Mexican Murals - The Flower of Life in a Face

As I was strolling through the Condesa neighborhood the other day, and I came across a particularly captivating mural. Before anything else, I had to stop and look at it for a while. Unlike many other wall paintings with intricate patterns and interesting imagery, this one seemed to have a hypnotizing effect, almost as if the image was looking back at me. I took a photo of it, so I could continue staring at it at home, and even write a post about it.

The location of the mural is the corner of the streets Cuernavaca and Juan de Barrera, and the painting is in a seemingly good condition, so it may either be new, or re-painted regularly. However, there is no signature of artist's tag anywhere to identify the artist. It might be someone who doesn't care about the fame, or simply doesn't want to be identified.

Simple Complexity

The color scheme of the picture is very simple, almost monochrome. The occasional blues and purples are a sporadic exception to the many blacks, whites, and especially grays that dominate the image. The content is mostly geometrical patterns, with a human face in its center. Its look may be interpreted as sad, stern, or thoughtful, but there is clearly something else that holds your attention. It took me a while to figure it out, but once I noticed, I could not unsee it again. It's in the earrings, the chin, the forehead, etc.

The center of the mural is made up of equal sized circles, overlapping each other where the edge of one circle intersects with the center of another. Placing seven circles together like this in one pattern creates the so called Flower of Life, an ancient symbol used repeatedly by various cultures throughout the world and the ages. For those who are completely new to this symbol, it can be a bottomless rabbit hole to disappear into. So I recommend starting at the Wikipedia article before jumping into Drunvalo Melchizedek's book.