By CASEY NEILL
Art helped Afghanistan-born Mehdi Jaghuri to find his feet in Australia.
Now the Berwick resident, 23, is returning the favour through Connections Gallery in Dandenong.
His father was one of the first asylum seekers to arrive in Australia by boat in 1998. Mehdi and the rest of the family followed in 2005.
“I’ve got two younger brothers. My dad didn’t recognise them when he first saw them at the airport,” he said.
And 12-year-old Mehdi didn’t recognise the new world he was to call home.
He’d gone from candlelight to electricity, was confused to see people speaking from within the tiny box that is a television, and couldn’t comprehend 10 houses coming together in one unit block.
“I had never seen a bathroom, I had never seen a shower,” he said.
“When I came here I couldn’t really speak English at all.
“This girl in my class did a painting of a dog and said ‘this is my dog’.
“That made me think differently.
“I don’t have to speak – I can let my work speak.
“That’s where I made a strong commitment to art.”
He studied visual arts and fine arts at Monash University’s art, design and architecture (MADA) faculty.
“When I finished my study I thought ‘there’d be a lot of other people out there like myself’,” he said.
“I wanted to give something back to the community for people from disadvantaged backgrounds or for any emerging artist.”
With his MADA peers he established Connections Gallery in the Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre.
“I want to find connections from all diverse cultural backgrounds and try to connect one another,” he said.
“There’s a lot of people out there who’ve a lot of talent and a story to tell, but they’re shy.
“I’m there to lift them up.”
The gallery hosts free workshops, and recently ran an eight-week course for Life Without Barriers.
“This Iranian woman came in and did a workshop with us,” Mehdi said.
“She said ‘I found myself, finally. I had never had an opportunity in my country to pick up a brush. They never allowed me to paint. I’ve been through anxiety, torture, violence … I feel so at peace, I feel so comfortable.’
“Art is a very powerful tool to use in anything.
“It doesn’t only have to be about politics, about war, about people.
“It can be about yourself, your journey, your trouble. It can bring a lot of harmony and peace.”
The Connections Gallery 2016 Afghani Art Prize attracted entries from primary school students through to 40-somethings.
Mehdi’s idea was to alternate exhibitions from touring artists with culture-specific art prizes.
“At the end of the year, with the winner from each group we’d have a multicultural exhibition and that’s how we’d bring about connections,” he said.
“We can educate ourselves as a community.”
Mehdi plans to introduce portfolio workshops for year 12s, work with Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre (SMRC) to secure grant funding for the gallery.
