Mostafa Faraji
Art is a way of communicating with the world around me. When I arrived in Tasmania at the age of 15 by boat, I found myself struggling with speaking English and making friends. Through his paintings I discovered a way to communicate my emotions through art, expressing his relationship with the landscape. I left his home country of Iran and all that he knew behind at the age of 15 to travel by boat to Australia as an asylum seeker. Upon arrival to Australia I was detained on Christmas Island where I spent two years in detention. While on Christmas Island I became friends with several detainees who were later sent to Manus Island. To cope with the grief of losing his friends I taught himself how to draw in detention. I was denied access to paint so many of his earlier works where landscapes with no colour. I was released from detention at the age of 17 which allowed me access to paint. Painting has taught me how to interact with love, by using my art to express the beauty of the landscape I saw through the windows whilst in detention and when I arrived in Tasmania. My first painting was ‘Snowy Mountain’ which was inspired by the snow on Mount Wellington. I continued to paint throughout high school and was awarded the 2016 Tasmania school art prize , mural ‘Timeline.’ I’m specialises in oil painting and my current body of work explores climate change and the increasing fire risks in Tasmania. Inspired to give back to the Tasmanian community, my believes is helping provide healing for people who have experienced trauma by turning the story around through art.