Artist unveils new mural at Pinderfields Hospital to celebrate anniversary of the NHS
Monday, July 08, 2024
As part of Our Year - Wakefield District 2024’s Creativity Around the Corner project, artist Mohammad Barrangi has revealed a brand-new mural at Pinderfields Hospital, honouring the anniversary of the NHS.
Following a three-month process from concept to delivery, visual artist Mohammad Barrangi, assisted by local artist Suzie Cross, has produced the artwork located outside the main entrance to Pinderfields Hospital. Comprised of 26 individual panels at over 50m in length, the artwork spans the equivalent of over four single decker buses and illustrates NHS staff's personal stories of daily life at the hospital.
“We’re really pleased to be working alongside Unlimited to embed diverse creatives into key employers across the district. Mohammad’s piece is an inspirational celebration of the Pinderfields staff and NHS as a whole and he and Suzie have brought something truly beautiful to this corner of the hospital.
“Our Year – Wakefield District 2024 is all about bringing art and creativity into people’s lives. We hope this piece inspires people to get creative and shows that art doesn’t only live inside galleries and studios.”
Cllr Michelle Collins
Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport
The project will see the artists’ work installed in businesses across the Wakefield district, bringing contemporary art to new audiences, lifting under-represented voices and growing collaborations with local businesses.
Originally from Iran, Mohammad now lives and works in the UK, having studied at the Royal Drawing School. His artworks combine elements of Persian calligraphy, storytelling, and touches of humour. Using a unique creative process with handmade traditional calligraphy pens and a blend of mark making styles, Mohammad creates small pieces that are expanded into large scale murals, as demonstrated in the new Pinderfields work.
On the story behind his work, Mohammad Barrangi commented: “The inspiration for this piece came through speaking with NHS staff at the hospital and discovering their personal connections to Pinderfields. Snippets of their words feature in the finished mural which explores themes of immigration, hope and the reality of day to day at the hospital.
“I hope this mural embraces the incredible diversity of experiences amongst the NHS staff and celebrates the remarkable work they do day in day out. I’d like to thank the staff for their honesty and generosity in sharing their stories and the teams at Unlimited and Wakefield Council for this opportunity to share my work with a new audience.”
Creativity Around the Corner is just one element in Our Year Wakefield District 2024, a packed yearlong programme which includes a supercharged series of festivals, exhibitions, talks and activities in the Wakefield district as well as major events from key partner organisations including The Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Theatre Royal Wakefield.
The 366-day celebration offers people across Wakefield district the chance to get involved in culture and creativity, experiencing the positive role it plays in their community whilst creating last memories and encouraging local pride.
Find out more at: ouryear2024.co.uk and for more information about Unlimited, visit: weareunlimited.org.uk
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For information:
About Our Year
Our Year – Wakefield District 2024 is a partnership celebration led by Wakefield Council.
The council is enabling Our Year to leave a lasting legacy for its people and places, working in partnership with organisations from Wakefield district and the West Yorkshire region. West Yorkshire Combined Authority has also supported Our Year with a grant of £800,000 towards the cost of staging the year-long programme, with Arts Council England investing £500,000 and National Lottery Heritage Fund supporting with a grant of £245,000. To find out about Our Year, please visit ouryear2024.co.uk
For further information, follow Our Year on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
About Unlimited
Unlimited is an arts commissioning body that supports, funds and promotes new work by disabled artists for UK and international audiences. Our mission is to commission extraordinary work from disabled artists that will change and challenge the world.
Unlimited is funded by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, British Council, Creative Scotland and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Since 2013, Unlimited has supported over 521 artists with over £6.5 million, reaching audiences of over 5.5 million, making it the largest supporter of disabled artists world-wide.
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