Visiting Artist’s Talk – Mohammad Barrangi

For this week’s Visiting Artist’s Talk at the University of Leeds we welcome Mohammad Barrangi, a multidisciplinary artist born in Rasht, Iran and based in Leeds.

Mohammad Barrangi’s work centres on his own experiences of travel, migration and disability. Blending traditional calligraphy with experimental mark-making techniques, Barrangi combines elements of Persian calligraphy, historic European scientific illustration and storytelling to create intimate works on paper that are often expanded into large-scale murals.

He completed a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the Islamic Azad University of Tonekabon in 2011 and graduated from the Royal Drawing School in London in 2021.

Barrangi has exhibited extensively internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include: Playing in Wonderland, The Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester (2023), Dreamland, The Art House, Wakefield and Anything is Possible, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburg (both in 2022), The Conference of the Birds, ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles, USA (2020) and Wounderland, Pedrami Gallery, Anterwap, Belgium (2019).

Barrangi has also won numerous awards including first prizes at the International Design Festival, Ukraine (2019), Muestra del IV Premi International, Tragaluz, Colombia (2017) and Belgrade Illustration Festival, Serbia (2009). Barrangi’s work is held in some of the world’s most respected institutions, including the British Museum, the Royal Family Collection, Leeds Art Gallery, the National Government Collection in the UK, the San Diego Museum of Art in the USA, as well as the Cluj Napoka Art Museum in Romania and are featured in many international private collections.

Barrangi will be exhibiting work at The Stanley & Audrey Gallery, University of Leeds, from 1 May to 20 July 2024. Part of the citywide Smeaton300 programme, One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthouse is inspired by his residency in Special Collections and will explore notions of home, childhood and migration.

About the Visiting Artists’ Talks series

The Visiting Artist’s Talk (VAT) series hosts talks by an exciting range of arts practitioners from around the world every Monday afternoon 2–4pm during teaching weeks.

All of our talks are compulsory for our Fine Art students but are also open to anyone else who would like to join us.

The venue for this week’s talk is Chemistry Lecture Theatre B at the University of Leeds.