Memorial to be held for human rights artist Farvardin Daliri

A public memorial in North Queensland will be held for artist and cultural advocate, Farvardin Daliri, who has had much influence in Townsville standing up for culture and human rights.

Artist and sculpture Farvardin Daliri. His family will be holding a memorial in Townsville. Picture: Supplied.

A public memorial in Townsville will be dedicated to artist Farvardin Daliri, OAM, who spent a lifetime chasing “the right and just thing” lending his artistic hand on behalf of cultural and indigenous groups, often through sculptures.

Dr Daliri was 69 when he died in May after an 18 month battle with bowel cancer, and his family are holding a memorial this weekend to commemorate his life.

There are clues to his legacy across the city if one knows where to look, some of such being his iconic large animal sculptures.

And while he received international coverage for his giant sculpture of a laughing kookaburra during the pandemic, and is known for giant sculptures, his son Erfan emphasised the significant amount of other projects he worked on in a lifetime beginning in Iran.

There was no detailed record of Dr Daliri’s projects and therefore the influence that some of these had were still being discovered by his family.

Dr Daliri was dedicated to his Baha’i Faith and fled to India where he remained in his 20s, developing his sculpting and painting talents, before migrating to Australia as a refugee.

Dr Farvardin Daliri was the executive director of the Townsville Cultural Fest. He was photographed when beginning preparations for the event. Picture: Shae Beplate.

His early life in Australia was based in Melbourne but he moved his family to Townsville where he established himself as a champion of cultures including Indigenous communities.

His son said despite the trials his father went through in early life he remained sensitive to his family and community’s needs.

“It would take me years to be able to describe to you the kinds of, the depths, of patience he had, the unwavering love and sacrifice he kind of portrayed every day of his life,” he said.

Dr Daliri with a statue he created for the culture fest.

“Because of who he was, the slightest little inconvenience to one of his children would just send his world crumbling down.

“So it’s not like just because he went through hardship everyone else had to kind of harden up and toughen up, which you would expect.”

Mr Daliri said his father “never paused” to consider all his achievements, and that there was not room for all his awards and medals.

Artist Farvardin Daliri speaks at the 2016 Australian Hand Cane-Cutting Championships.

“He didn’t even have his PhD certificate framed on a wall, he was very nonchalant about all those things,” he said.

“He never kind of made a song and dance about it because he was so busy doing the next thing we don’t even have a record of all of the things he’s done.

“There was recently a book published about indigenous artworks across Australia, and about half a dozen of his artworks that he co-designed and built with indigenous communities were published, and their photographs were in this book, and he had no idea.”

Farvardin Daliri poses to represent the Townsville Intercultural Centre.

Prominent Birra Gubba woman and James Cook University professor Gracelyn Smallwood would be speaking at the memorial, where she would recognise his work for human rights.

“He fought basically for all races that were being violated and he was an absolute amazing, kind man that fought for justice, for world peace,” Dr Smallwood said.

“He was a tough man outside but inside an extremely kind man, and his work took him travelling the world.

“He did all the beautiful sculptures around town, of animals, of people.

“He sacrificed quite a bit, like his beautiful family who allowed him to travel and be what he fought for.

“And we’re very thankful that they shared this amazing man with us.”

Dr Daliri is survived by his wife, three children, and three grandchildren.

Dr Farvardin Daliri’s public memorial will be held at the Townsville Baha’i Community Centre in South Townsville from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday, July 20.

Originally published as Memorial to be held for human rights artist Farvardin Daliri