INSTALLATIONS / SITE ARTISTS FLAGS BY ANGUS WATT
The flags that flutter above WOMAD New Zealand have become an iconic part of the festival. Award-winning UK visual artist Angus Watt, who designs and creates the flags, has work featured at WOMAD festivals around the world. “Basically, no two flags are the same,” Angus says. The elegant creations are made of Japanese silk and each one helps to transform open spaces into spectacular sights. “The flags are really just great big abstract paintings, painted in the sky, using the wind and the sun. “I have to think about the aerodynamics of the flags and how they are going to fly.” Angus says one of the key elements of the large-scale artworks is the array of colours, from ethereal to daring.
first flags, using fabric he’d cut with a penknife. Since then he has gone on to create thousands of the decorative silk flags for events across the world, starting with a WOMAD festival in 1997. He describes the WOMAD flags as having a spectacular yet “simple ability to transform an otherwise empty arenas.” “They proved to be an irresistible combination of elements in a classic festival environment - music, colour, and movement,” he says. Angus continues to create flags for WOMAD festivals throughout the globe, saying he has a “zeitgeisty collaboration with WOMADs.” www.anguswatt.net
“The great thing about this fabric is that there are so many in-between colours that don’t have any names. “The flags get worn and they have a lot of sun – the colours change and I re-use fabrics and reintroduce them with other colours, so you have more control over the level of palette.” Angus, who comes from a highly artistic family, had the vision for the sea of flags while trucking across South Africa in the early 90s, three years after art school. A year later, after being further inspired by an exhibition of ceremonial flags from Ghana, Angus created his
Image: Michael Flynn
Image: Dane Scott
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