Iranian artist opens Leeds present exploring incapacity and migration | Artwork and design

A decade in the past, the artist Mohammad Barrangi was representing Iran as a Paralympic sprinter and was ridiculously speedy. “My greatest time for the 100 metres was 10.72 seconds, in Tunisia,” he says with comprehensible delight. “I’ve mates who don’t consider I’m an artist.”

Barrangi is talking to the Guardian exactly as a result of he’s an artist, about to open a significant present in Leeds that shines gentle on his outstanding story of turning what could seem to be adversity into limitless risk.

The present tells a fantastical story of a woman referred to as Lily who sails in a small boat from Anzali, a metropolis on the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, to England.

In his artwork, Barrangi can be telling a narrative about himself and his lived expertise, exploring themes of incapacity and migration.

He hopes the present will encourage individuals to consider the human tales behind the headlines about migration. “With the federal government’s Rwanda plan and the Channel crossings within the information, it’s an excellent time to speak about this stuff,” he mentioned.

The artist, who studied graphic design in Iran in addition to excelling as a sprinter, arrived in Britain in 2017. It wasn’t in a small boat, however he had a difficult two years as he sought asylum. “Truthfully it was tough, it was ready and ready, I used to be in detention,” he mentioned.

Thankfully for him, he was despatched to Wakefield in West Yorkshire, which could be a good spot for aspirant artists. “I used to be very fortunate. I arrived within the UK with no household, no mates, not speaking English.”

He joined a residency programme at Wakefield’s The Artwork Home, which helps artists who’re refugees and asylum seekers, earlier than efficiently making use of to the Royal Drawing College in London, co-founded by the then Prince Charles in 2000 to boost the nation’s drawing expertise.

His time on the Artwork Home and the Royal Drawing College was lifechanging. Barrangi proudly exhibits images of Charles taking a look at his works after they have been a part of a present at Christie’s. “He was a really good man, very type.”

Barrangi is now based mostly in Leeds and has works in collections together with the British Museum, the Royal Assortment and the San Diego Museum of Artwork.

His present is impressed by a residency within the College of Leeds’ particular collections, and attracts on sources that embrace Iranian calligraphy, Center Japanese textiles and European scientific illustrations.

It has a lighthouse motif at its centre, which is a nod to John Smeaton whose tercentenary is being marked this yr.

Leeds-born Smeaton is thought to be the daddy of civil engineering, even arising with that phrase. He was a pioneering engineer who constructed the third Eddystone lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall, a blueprint for all that adopted.

Barrangi was born with out the usage of his left arm, which implies he typically makes use of his left foot as a substitute. “My left foot is my left hand,” he mentioned. “It’s the means I’ve all the time completed it, it’s second nature.”

His work is about his life and the experiences he has confronted, together with incapacity and migration, neither of which he sees as negatives.

“I’m very fortunate as a result of I used to be born disabled,” he mentioned. “A disabled life is difficult. Shifting to a different nation is a problem, studying a brand new language, a brand new life is a problem.”