The root of the word temple means to mark or cut out, or to divide. A templum was a space where the geometries of heaven divined through priestly augurs were marked out on earth. The term temple of the mind can be seen in the sense of an imaginary temple, a sacred or perfect space which can only be perceived through one’s mind.

Symmetry in art, as in nature, is seen as a reflection of proportion and faultlessness. Often in the design of sacred places or temples symmetry was conceived of as a symbol of heavenly perfection. In the design of buildings, from the Parthenon in Athens to the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the interplay between bilateral, rotational and directional symmetry has dominated the architect’s agenda to create a sense of aesthetically pleasing proportionality.

In the series Temple of the Mind, Rodin Hamidi highlights and plays with symmetry and mirror image and by doing so presents architecture from another angle. His images suggest that although we can try to attempt to reach formal perfection in architecture and through its representation, this perfection as put forward in Plato’s Theory of Forms can only be seen as imitation, and so the concept temple can only exist in our minds.

St Peter’s Square in Rome is an example of bilateral symmetry, incorporating an interconnecting trapezoid and elliptical circle framed by an impressive colonnade, it enhances visitors’ view of the Basilica. Being the greatest of Roman Catholic churches, the vista leading towards it and towards supposed spiritual enlightenment is a symbolic show of proportion and Baroque grandeur. In his image Bow, Hamidi presents this well-known square in another light; through symmetry, he has instilled a surreal dimension to its existing grandeur. This image has taken on its own aura, architecturally impossible, it can be seen as a reflection of an ideal structure, as a new temple in our visual imaginary.

In the series, Hamidi seems to bring to light the artificiality of the architectural devices through the use of mirror image and axial reflection. The buildings he represents take on another level of beauty, their inherent symmetries enhanced through his choice of perspective or the point of view. Architecture is often used to maintain grandeur. We can ask ourselves if these emblematic buildings, or ‘temples’ of religious, economic, intellectual or political power, can be seen not only as architectural but also symbolic constructs, a play on perception in all senses of the word.

The use of mirror-image is taken further in Parisian Dreams. Second Empire rooftops are seen reflected in the mirrored façade of a modern building. Hamidi offers a quasi-kaleidoscopic view; the visual fragments of rooftops recompose to form an imaginary structure that emerges from the fourfold reflection of these fractals in the mirrored surface. The reality of the shiny yet grubby window panes of the modern building stand in stark contrast with the nineteenth-century architecture. From the city of lights, Hamidi offers a new perspective on its distinct architectural heritage.

Natural Grave can be seen as a somewhat ironic title for a portrayal of the monument to the Shoah in Berlin. It offers a view of a receding landscape of stele – the natural comes through on the horizon where we make out greenery, a symbol of hope perhaps. Nonetheless, it is a disquieting scene, the magnitude of the monument amplified this time through axial symmetry.

Hamidi’s images shift our perspective of the buildings and locations in the series. His work offers a fresh view on these temples of Western culture, to help question the symbolic form of architectural heritage. Yet the new structures which emerge from his images are not real, they only exist through his representation and our imaginations. Through symmetry, the visual is divided and reproduced, yet do shifting visions get us any closer to its form?