The window features are certainly evocative of some sort of flag. And it turns out that many African flags use the trio of red, yellow and green. According to the pocket guide Complete Flags of the World (DK Publishing), “Pan-Africanism is the concept that African countries should embrace their mutual bond as Africans. Red, yellow, green and black are colors commonly used to represent Pan-Africanism.” The colors carry with them certain cultural meanings, as follows:
RED: the blood uniting all people of black African ancestry
YELLOW: a reference to the sun; the presence of precious resources, particularly gold
GREEN: the abundant flora and natural wealth of Africa
BLACK: a symbol of the African race
Many West African flags employ this color grouping, including Mali, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo* (with a white star), Benin, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe, Congo, Zimbabwe* (white surrounds the Zimbabwe bird), Ethiopia* (blue star overlies), and Mozambique* (with white lines). But the one that most closely resembles our specimen is the flag of Congo with its diagonal fields of green, yellow and red (red/green inversion noted). That country is not to be confused with its eastern neighbor Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, where George Foreman fought Muhammad Ali in 1974’s “Rumble in the Jungle” (Ali won in an 8th round knockout after debuting his rope-a-dope tactic). It should be noted that the majority of African flags do not employ that color scheme while some non-African countries do, such as Lithuania, Bolivia, and Myanmar* (with a white star). And if I solve the mystery of this curious building, you will be the first to know!
ADDENDUM:
The case has been SOLVED!! It took the brilliant detective work of my old friend JS who did a reverse Google search on the image (I had done a failed search on BING, not knowing Google had that feature, but of course they do!). The place, it turns out, is an inking parlour called Waverly Tattoo. Perhaps they will adorn your skin with your favorite world flag. Or you might go trendy with the banner of Wrexham AFC. Maybe you’ll collect all 54 of the official African countries (per the United Nations), if your back is big enough. Still not sure about the color scheme and painted windows. A phone call inquiry is in order. Watch this space…
Great Exudations 