The Duke University Center for International Studies (DUCIS) is pleased to announce an upcoming photography exhibit by renowned artist, Ram Rahman. Street Smart will showcase Rahman’s body of work, a subtle, often humorous eye on the street life of New Delhi and to the contemporary world of Indian artists. The exhibit will culminate with a closing reception with the artist in attendance.
Husain Paints a Horse, a 1996 photograph by Ram Rahman
Rahman, a 1979 graduate of the Yale School of Art, is a founding member of SAHMAT, the artists’ collective based in New Delhi, which has been a platform for the struggle against communal politics and is committed to ensuring freedom of expression.
Peter Nagy has written of Rahman’s work:
Ram delights in the subtle absurdities to be found in [ . . .] juxtapositions, exploiting the opportunity to discover something about what might make Indians tick. Raised and still based in New Delhi, India’s capital and political engine, Ram has a special interest in the symbols of politics as they enter popular culture, the highly visual markers of both parties and players that get mixed into the cacophony of the streets, revealing playful readings of the public Indian psyche.(January 2008)
In Rahman’s own fascinating and swift survey of twentieth-century Indian photography, A Sharper Focus (2007), he situates himself along with Ketaki Sheth, Sooni Taraporewala, and Mira Nair as among the first Indian photographers to train outside of India and “to be exposed to the American documentary tradition and its increasing presence in the gallery scene.”
-
- Media: Photo Print, Dimensions 40 x 50, A 1994 photograph by Ram Rahman
-
- Media: Photo Print, Dimensions: 33×40, A 1983 photograph by Ram Rahman
-
- Media: Photo Print, Dimensions: 40 x 30, A 1996 photograph by Ram Rahman
-
- Media: Photo Print, Dimensions: 27 x 40, A 2007 photograph by Ram Rahman
-
- Media: Photo Print, Dimensions 40 x60, A 1987 photograph by Ram Rahman
Rahman has had one-man shows at the India International Center, New Delhi, Cleveland Museum of Art, Admit One Gallery, New York, Galerie Foundation for Indian arts, Amsterdam, Rotch Visual Collections, MIT. He has been represented in group shows at the Yale School of Art Gallery, Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai, Berkeley Square Gallery, London, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, Grosvenor Vadehra, London, National Museum, New Delhi, Sepia International, New York, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Japan Foundation, Tokyo, and British Council, New Delhi.
Ram Rahman: Street Smart will be on display in the main gallery of the John Hope Franklin Center (JHFC) from March 20 through April 10, when DUCIS will host a closing reception with Ram Rahman.. The JHFC, located at 2204 Erwin Road, is free and open to the public, Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm.
For additional information or images for publicity, contact Rob Sikorski [Email: r.sikorski #AT# duke.edu ].
