Artist · researcher · speaker
Building bridges between worlds.
Lord Richard MacLeod's work sits where art, faith, migration, design and human identity meet.
Verified public record
TEDxNewcastleUniversityUniversity of BahrainMACFEST Muslim Arts AwardsMuslim Museum UKACM Peace researchThe story
Art became another way to make a home.
Lord Richard began his career as an architect before displacement and migration reshaped his understanding of home, identity and belonging.
His Arabic calligraphy practice began in 2009 and developed into a body of work that combines traditional discipline with contemporary questions: How can people hold more than one identity? What makes a place feel like home? How can art create dialogue without flattening difference?
Lord Richard's research explored the relationship between faith, culture and identity. That work led to the QEII Script, a hybrid of Arabic Kufi and English Blackletter created to explore British Muslim identity.
Today, he brings this work into galleries, universities, workplaces and public conversations through artworks, live experiences, workshops and talks.
A practice with purpose
Beauty, values and cohesion.
His verified speaking and research include the official TEDxNewcastleUniversity talk Can Your Exile Be Your Home?, an international forum at the University of Bahrain and the published Peace: Projecting Dual-Identities on Interactive Furniture research project.
Beyond the gallery, his aim is practical: to make art a generous, non-threatening way to explore difference, memory and the values people share.
Explore live experiences →Watch & listen
Ideas carried into public conversation.
Four selected talks, interviews and research films, organised around the ideas behind the work.
Watch on YouTube ↗Official talkCan Your Exile Be Your Home?TEDxNewcastleUniversity · exile, identity, art and architecture.
Watch the lecture ↗LectureQur’an & Calligraphy: Relationship & HistoryA visual account of writing, preservation and the development of Arabic calligraphy.
Watch the interview ↗InterviewA Wandering Soul’s Pursuit of IntegrationAn Artistic Times conversation about art, integration and continual personal growth.
Watch the project film ↗Research filmسلام Peace: Interactive FurnitureSee the Peace Table and Peace Painting reveal a shared Arabic–English identity through movement, colour and proximity.The evolving practice
Scroll back through the story.
From exhibitions, international speaking and published research to the point where the calligraphy practice began.
Invite Richard to speak- 2025
Muslim Arts Awards judge
Named by MACFEST as a judge for its second Muslim Arts Awards, with Richard confirming his judge-panel role across two years.
Meet the judging panel ↗ - 2025
Celebrating Calligraphy & Creativity
A featured MACFEST programme sharing the story of the Arabic-British script and the connections between art, faith and identity.
Read the programme feature ↗ - 2022
Earth Requiem
Selected for the Art Centre Washington group exhibition bringing artists together in response to the climate crisis.
See the exhibition record ↗ - 2022
International Forum for Islamic Art and Architecture
Invited by the University of Bahrain to speak about British Islamic architectural identity in design.
Read the university report ↗ - 2021
Can Your Exile Be Your Home?
A TEDxNewcastleUniversity talk about exile, home, identity and the role of art and architecture in making belonging tangible.
Watch the TEDx talk ↗ - 2020
سلام Peace research
The bilingual Peace work became part of a published design research project exploring dual identity through interactive furniture.
Read the ACM research record ↗Find it in Queen’s iStudio publications ↗ - 2019
Art & Identity at MACFEST
A shared conversation with artist Siddiqa Juma about creative practice, struggle, identity and the ability of art to open dialogue.
Watch the conversation ↗ - 2016
Calligraphy workshops at Newcastle University
A series of open community painting workshops made Arabic calligraphy practical, welcoming and accessible to first-time participants.
View the event archive ↗ - 2015
Discovery and ISOC Newcastle exhibitions
Exhibitions and community arts activity connected with Discovery and ISOC Newcastle formed part of a wider 2010 to 2019 exhibition period.
Read the archive story ↗ - 2014
Featured by Muslim Museum UK
Profiled as a British Muslim calligrapher and artist during the Love Actually exhibition at Kala Sangam Arts Centre in Bradford.
Read the artist profile ↗ - 2014
Contemporary Islamic art in Dubai
The Atqakum Epic was exhibited at Emaar Pavilion in a Ramadan presentation of international contemporary Islamic art.
Read The National feature ↗ - 2009
Washington DC exhibition
Richard exhibited in Washington DC as his Arabic calligraphy practice was beginning to gather public shape and direction.
Read the archive story ↗ - 2009
The calligraphy practice begins
A sustained Arabic calligraphy practice begins, later bringing Kufi and English Blackletter into conversation.
- Archive
Grainger Market, Olympic exhibition and The Scribe
The archive also includes the Grainger Market Newcastle exhibition, an Olympic exhibition and Richard’s article in The Scribe.
Open the exhibition archive ↗Read the press archive ↗
Work with Richard