Mohammad Barrangi: One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthouse at Stanley & Audrey Gallery

Leeds University’s Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery welcomes Mohammad Barrangi. The exhibition, inspired by his residency in the University’s Special Collections, brings together works in print, sculpture, installation and sound.

One Night, One Dream, Life in the Lighthouse is part of the tercentenary celebrations of the Smeaton300 programme from Foxglove, celebrating the work of John Smeaton, the UK’s first civil engineer, who was born and died in Leeds. Smeaton designed the revolutionary Eddystone Lighthouse and the motif of journeys, migration and safety is the thread between his designs and Barrangi’s contemporary artwork.

While technique is a focal point in the artist’s work, One Night, One Dream, One Life is a story told in the form of an exhibition, one in which personal memories, Persian mythology, Western literature and biblical parables converge. 

The exhibition tells the story of Lily, the young protagonist described as “a girl with her head full of dreams and stories”. She was born in Anzali, an Iranian port on the Caspian Sea and travels to England in a small wooden boat. Finding shelter in a lighthouse, she feels transported to a different world and in her sleep, she hears a song that her mother used to sing to her: Dərya tūfān dare (The sea is stormy) plays in the gallery, acting as an entry point into Lily’s world of fantasy and dreams. The lighthouse itself reminds Lily of the Manareh tower back home, bringing to mind the safety and warmth of family.

The techniques used to create these striking printed two- and three-dimensional works is one that the artist has perfected himself, partly due to his disability – Barrangi was born without the use of his left arm. He starts off by using traditional calligraphy and drawing before adding in digital tools. The next stage involves working on the floor using a solvent to transfer the completed imagery onto various specifically prepared surfaces. The paper is rubbed away leaving behind the print and the work is then varnished to make the image sing. These methods are used alongside 3D printing, clothes designs and the previously mentioned sound, all of which are recent additions to the artist’s toolbox. 

The show is a timely comment on migration and disability, informed by the artist’s personal experiences as well as broader research. It pulls viewers into a dream world of colour and strangeness, providing something of a fantasy respite from the real world while also confronting us with some of its biggest problems.