AN IRANIAN man who was enlisted in the military at 14 before later fleeing the conflict there has been named the winner of the Coventry Open art competition for work responding to the ongoing violence in his homeland.
Mohsen Keiany won the contest at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum for his painting ‘The Motherland’ which depicts the conflict in Iran as well as his experience as a soldier.
Birmingham City University professor Mohsen will receive a £1,000 prize for his efforts.
He said: “It is an unbelievable honour to be selected by the judges.
“A lot of time spent alone goes into my work, but I am responding to so much going on in the world and from my past, thinking about others, and I hope that visitors can feel a sense of that in the work.”
Coventry student Maisie Carroll, 15, was awarded the competition’s first-ever Young Artists’ prize for her upcycled dragon sculpture made out of an old blowtorch.
The Coventry Open competition gives artists a chance to exhibit their work in a professional gallery.
More than 1,000 submissions were made in January, with 248 shortlisted by a panel of independent judges.
The best 108 pieces are now on display until May 21.
Artists are able to sell their work, while visitors also get to have their say with a ‘people’s choice’ prize chosen by those viewing.
The artists on the panel of judges included Anna Berry, writer and poet Rene Matic, portrait photographer and curator Dominique Nok and Nilupa Yasmin.
