Ram Rahman is a noted contemporary Indian photographer and curator. based in Delhi. He is one of the founding members of the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trus
(SAHMAT)
in New Delhi, a leader in the resistance to communal and sectarian forces in India through its public cultural action.

Early life and education

Ram Rahman was born in 1955 to

Indrani Rahman Indrani Rahman (19 September 1930, Chennai – 5 February 1999, New York) was an Indian classical dancer of Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Odissi, which she popularised in the west, and later settled in New York in 1976. In 1952, sh ...

, a classical Indian dancer, and Habib Rahman, a noted Indian architect. Ram Rahman completed his degree in Physics from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

. He also received a degree in Graphic Design from the

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

School of Art in 1979.

Awards

Ram Rahman received the prestigiou
Forbes India Art Award
in the year 2014 for best "exhibition of Indian art curated on an international stage". Ram Rahman had curated "The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989" at the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago which showcased work of more than 60 artists showcasing two decades of contemporary Indian Art within the political sphere.

Exhibitions

Ram Rahman has shown his photographs in individual and group shows in India and around the world. His works have been exhibited at the India International Centre, Delhi (Imaging Delhi, 2011); Duke University, Raleigh (Street Smart, 2000); Bodhi Art, Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi (Bioscope, 2008); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (2002); Admit One Gallery, New York (2000); Triveni Gallery, New Delhi (1978); Brunswick Public Library, Brunswick, Maine (1977); Rotch Visual collections, MIT, Cambridge (1977) and many other galleries and institutions around the world. His works have been exhibited as part of many groups shows in India and abroad. Ram's most recent group show was 'Touched by Bhupen', exhibited at Galerie Mirchandanni and Steinruecke, Mumbai, 2013. Other prominent group shows include 'Where Three Dreams Cross', White Chappel Gallery, London (2010); 'Public Places, Private Spaces' at the Newark Museum (2007); 'I fear, I believe, I desire' at Gallery Espace, New Delhi; 'Woman / Goddess', British Council, New Delhi (1999);'Context as Content – Museum as Metaphor', The Museum of Fine Arts, Punjab University, Chandigarh (2001), etc. Ram has curated several exhibitions including Rare Vintage Photographs – 1940s-1960s (2014); The SAHMAT Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989 exhibited at Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, and The Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina (2013); The United Art Fair, New Delhi (2013); Delhi Modern: The Architectural Photographs of Madan Mahatta, 1956–1984, Photoink Gallery, Delhi Goethe Institute, Bombay (2012); HEAT, Bose Pacia Modern, New York (2003), etc.

Books authored

Sunil Janah Sunil Janah (17 April 1918 — 21 June 2012) was an Indian photojournalist and documentary photographer who worked in India in the 1940s. Janah documented India's independence movement, its peasant and labour movements, famines and riots, ...

: Photographs 1940–1960. Published by Vijay Kumar Aggarwal. First Edition (2014). The Sahmat Collective: Art and Activism in India since 1989. Co-edited with Jessica Moss. Published by Chicago: The Smart Museum of Art (2013). Defending Husain in the Public Sphere: The SAHMAT Experience, Essay in Barefoot across the Nation, MF Husain and the Idea of India. Edited by Sumathi Ramaswamy. Published by Routledge, 2010 Edited by Sumathi Ramaswamy, Routledge, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahman, Ram Indian portrait photographers 1955 births Living people