Who is Mohammed Z Rahman?

Mohammed Z Rahamn is a British-Bengali artist working and living in East London. Mohammed makes paintings – some big, like a mural in Hoxton he created with young people, and some miniature – like matchboxes, and some that are more the kind of size you hang on a wall.

All his paintings have something in common. He makes a lot of work around the theme of home. He said when he was younger he started making things in order to decorate the places he and his family lived in. A lot of his work is also around the theme of food, because of how important it is in the home.

Mohammed says they like painting on matchboxes and that they are powerful objects because they contain fire. (If you want to try this at home - make sure you ask a grown up to remove any matches before you start painting!)

One day his 4-year-old niece asked him to tell her about the time he lived in a house made out of spaghetti. He dreamt up a house where everything is made from pasta and they developed the story about it together. What details can you spot?

Mohammed says he likes that food is something that unites people across countries and cultures, something that everyone can understand.

Braille is a tactile reading and writing system used by Blind or visually impaired people.

Mohammed Z Rahman uses braille in their paintings because it is used internationally. It's also used in a slightly undercover way in his paintings because the braille is not something you can touch, and it's not raised up or embossed - it cannot be read in its usual way.

The artist is making a point about how everyone's family or home might speak a different language - and it is normal to not understand everything and make our own meanings - in terms of the actual words they say, but also the memories and stories than bind them together.