Bradford 2025: Fascinating new exhibition celebrates unexpected parallels between boxing and calligraphy
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‘Fighting to Be Heard’, which is on show at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery until April 27, is bringing rare items from the British Library’s Arabic and Urdu collections to West Yorkshire as part of the city of culture celebrations.
It also draws on the personal reflections of two British South Asian Muslim men living in Bradford today, acclaimed calligrapher and boxing trainee Razwan Ul-Haq, and world champion boxer Tasif Khan.
Together, with the help of members of the Tasif Khan Community Boxing Academy, including head coach Nissar Hussain and trustee Sohail Ahmed, they have highlighted the thought-provoking and inspiring connections between the art forms.
Razwan said: “As well as working as an artist and a calligrapher, I’ve been training in boxing for a number of years. It struck me that boxers are extremely disciplined - and it’s that same discipline that you need to have for calligraphy. The idea for the exhibition came from there, it was really organic.”
The exhibition also highlights the role of focus in both calligraphy and boxing - and how a single lapse in concentration can mean the difference between perfection and failure.
“When you’re boxing, you really have to be focused, there is no room for emotions,” explained Razwan. “That’s what people get wrong. People think you need to be very aggressive, but in reality you need to be very calm and focused. Sometimes it’s difficult to have that focus, but that’s exactly what we do in calligraphy.
“If you’re not calm, your handwriting is not going to show the harmony. But then if you’re too calm, your calligraphy isn’t going to be perfect enough. That focus needs to be there and it needs to have a little bit of tension.”
It’s a comparison that might not immediately come to mind, but for Razwan and his collaborators, it made perfect sense. He continued: “Tasif and I discussed how you can get lost in both boxing and calligraphy. There are a lot of examples of this. Let’s say I’m writing a traditional piece of calligraphy and I make one little mistake, you would be able to see it immediately.
“Even if you’re not an active reader of Arabic, it would still come across. There would be that little bit of harmony missing. And in boxing, if you let your guard down just for one moment, you can be straight on the canvas.”
The exhibition itself is a stunning visual experience. Visitors will have the chance to see some of the oldest Arabic and Urdu manuscripts, including what may be the oldest Urdu document in existence dating back 500 years.
“It really is a once in a lifetime exhibition,” said Razwan. “We have the handwriting of a very famous Urdu poet, Mirza Ghalib, who is considered the equivalent of Shakespeare. And there’s also calligraphy from all over the world. For example, we have some really interesting examples of Chinese-Arabic calligraphy.”
He said he hoped that visitors would walk away with a renewed appreciation for how art shapes everyday life: “Art is for everyone. It’s not just something you see in a gallery, it’s something that’s living and breathing and it can make you think. We’ve had visitors at Cartwright Hall who might have lived in Bradford all their lives, but have never been inside.”
The exhibition is one of many events taking place as part of Bradford 2025, which Razwan said has already had a noticeable impact: “I live in Bradford and it has been excellent. It has attracted people from all over the region. Just a few weeks ago, I was doing an Arabic calligraphy workshop and most of the people who came to that were from outside the area.”
Fighting to Be Heard is on display at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery until April 27. Admission is free.