Alethea Magazine

Mohammad Barrangi Anything is Possible exhibition in Edinburgh

Art Calendar, 19 December 2021

Mohammad Barrangi:

"Anything is Possible" exhibition in Edinburgh

21 Jan - 27 March 2022

Gallery 1, Edinburgh Printmakers,

Mohammad Barrangi - My Strange World 2020 Printmaking on Paper

©Mohammad Barrangi

Award-winning Iranian artist and Paralympic athlete Mohammad Barrangi will show new works in the exhibition "Anything Is Possible," on view at Edinburgh Printmakers from Jan. 22, 2022, to March 27.

Mohammad Barrangi's work combines elements of Persian calligraphy, storytelling, text and a touch of humor. Using contemporary printing techniques as well as traditional calligraphy and handmade paper, Barrangi's finished works mimic ancient manuscripts in color and texture.

For this exhibition, he has created both small works and large-scale murals. For the first time, his fantastical figures are brought to life as life-size, free-standing forms in the gallery space of Edinburgh Printmakers.

Titled "Anything is Possible", the exhibition will transport visitors into Barrangi's world inspired by ancient Persian stories. Barrangi's works, which he creates on paper using a unique printing process, range from small pieces to large murals, and for the first time, he will take some of his figures off the walls and display them as free-standing structures in the gallery space. Another first for Barrangi is making artwork on a poppy roll, a heavy fabric roll similar to the ancient papyrus rolls used in Egypt, printed at the Centre for Advanced Textiles at the Glasgow School of Art.

Barrangi uses contemporary printing techniques along with traditional calligraphy and handmade paper so that his finished works resemble ancient manuscripts in both color and texture. Barrangi usually begins his work with ink drawings of animal and human figures, which he digitizes to repeat the images and vary their scale. He lays out each composition in reverse and mirror image, revealing the inked image only after he rubs off the excess fibers with a solvent. Barrangi's practice now includes large-scale murals and works on raw canvas rather than just handmade paper.

Born without the use of his left arm, Barrangi works on the floor, using his feet to stabilize his work while he cuts or prints. His works reflect his own experiences as an artist with a disability and often feature images of people with lost arms, limbs or other disabilities, as well as images of women he admires.

The artist Mohammad Barrangi

©Mohammad Barrangi

In advance of the exhibition, Mohammed Barrangi said:

"I always say I live in a wonderland where anything is possible. You don't need a passport to travel to my world. Everyone lives in a common world and country. In my world, the animals speak. People and animals have a common nature - a combination of human and animal. And in my world all heroes are women. I like to depict images of my mother, exiled Iranian queens or simply friends who mean a lot to me. I often combine them with animals or mythical creatures, because my work is often about travel and immigration. Sometimes I also combine elements from classical Western painting with Eastern stories or imagery.

My work ultimately shapes myself, my feelings, and my view of the society around me, so each exhibition, while different, comes from within me. With each exhibition, I like to try new methods and new work. Of course it's a risk, but for me it's a challenge."

Yellow Zebra

©Mohammad Barrangi

The artist

Mohammad Barrangi was born in Rasht, Iran, in 1988. He is both an artist and a medal-winning international athlete with a disability in his left hand. Barrangi represented Iran internationally as a sprinter in the Paralympics in the 100m and 200m races. Unable to use his left hand from birth, he is classified as T46 and T47. After studying art, he turned to book illustration and graduated from Islamic Azad University of Tonekabon in 2011 with a major in graphic design. He also holds an MA from the Royal Drawing School. He now lives in Leeds, UK, and has since exhibited internationally, won numerous illustration awards, and his work is represented in the Royal Family Collection, the British Museum Collection, and the San Diego Museum of Art Collection.

The Project

Mohammad Barrangi is the first visiting artist at Edinburgh Printmakers as part of a new Europe-wide three-year arts project called In from the Margins, funded by Creative Europe. Under this project, partner arts organizations on the periphery of Europe will designate themselves as "Studios of Sanctuary" and offer residency opportunities to refugee and asylum-seeking or migration-affected artists in order to bring these artists into the regular program.

Throughout the residency program, Edinburgh Printmakers will welcome refugees and migrants into the studios to engage with resident artists, tell their own stories, and create new work that will be used by our project members and the broader visual arts community in Europe. The program will conclude with a group exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers in spring 2023.