Mehdi Ghadyanloo is an Iranian muralist and fine artist known for the 100 gigantic murals he painted in Iran’s capital Tehran between 2004 and 2011.
Recently, he installed a mural at the lobby of the Congress Centre in Davos, Switzerland, where the 2019 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting was being held.
The enormous painting titled Finding Hope, is designed especially for the event. The project is composed of three separate panels installed above the main entrance, depicting a young girl with a red balloon. Challenged by the abnormal structure of the walls, Ghadyanloo decided to create a triptych whose parts correlate with each other in a optimistic narrative. The balloon connotes innocence when paired with the little girl, but when placed opposite a sharp needle, it indicates possible destruction.
“The audience here has more power to create real change than the rest of the world,” Ghadyanloo told Colossal, “so this is a good place to touch their hearts and ask them to do something. Not in a direct way as they are used to be asked, but in a kind of a visual, poetic way I would say.”
