Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1977 Sylhet, Bangladesh

Year of Migration to the UK: 1983

Other name/s: Rana Begum RA

Biography

Artist Rana Begum was born to a farming family in Sylhet, Bangladesh in 1977. As a young child, she immigrated to Hertfordshire, England with her family in 1983 and first lived in a council house in St Albans. She attended Spencer School (now Bernards Heath Junior School) but initially did not speak the language and struggled at school. However, she fondly remembers her teacher Alison Dunn (now Mrs Smith) who gave her colouring pencils. Speaking about her childhood home in 2024 she said: ‘St Albans is mixed now. It doesn’t feel like you’re the only Asian there, which is how it used to feel. It’s wonderful,’ (Begum quoted in Barrett, 2024). At first, her father did not approve the idea of an art as a career, but he changed his mind after discussions with Begum's headmistress and art teacher. Begum received her BTEC Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art and Design from the University of Hertfordshire in 1996, her BA in fine art from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 1999, and an MFA in painting from the Slade School of Fine Art, University of London, in 2002.

Begum's art practice is focused on spatial and visual perceptions and turning these into measured structures, carefully shaped within the framework of minimalist abstraction. Her approach is shaped by the geometric purity found in minimalism and constructivism, echoing the work of figures like Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, Tess Jaray, and Josef and Anni Albers. Her choice of materials - stainless steel, aluminium, copper, brass, glass, and wood - leans towards the industrial, yet her sculptures and reliefs push these elements into a conversation with geometry, colour, and light. The fluorescent surfaces of her pieces play with light, alternately absorbing and reflecting it, creating a constantly changing experience for those who move around them. Light, for Begum, is not simply a tool but a core element of her process. Her creations engage with light in such a way that they capture and reflect its shifting qualities, allowing the viewer to experience a subtle play of time and sensation. Although her work is deeply influenced by the urban landscape, she also harks back to her childhood memories of Islamic art’s geometric patterns and impressions of ancient design traditions, drawing a thread between the urban landscape and the traditional designs that once surrounded her. Her practice remains experimental, pushing against conventional ideas of material and space: what begin as fragile paper studies transform into folded metal pieces that, despite their solidity, retain a sense of lightness and grace, with the ability to evoke delicacy and to create a tension between weight and weightlessness.

Begum regularly exhibits in the UK and internationally, and has received multiple site-specific commissions. Her first solo exhibition was in 2007 in Dubai’s Third Line gallery. Inn 2018 she was honoured with a solo show, A Conversation with Light and Form at Tate St Ives, Cornwall. In 2023 she paid tribute to her teachers in a homecoming exhibition at Rana Begum: Ordered Form which opened in St Albans Museum + Gallery. Describing her installation Mesh for the staircase at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2024-26), Begum has highlighted the harmonious interaction between space and viewer, remarking: ‘I love how it enables a natural flow around the artwork, allowing it to be perceived from all sides. I’m drawn to the focal window and the abundance of natural light – it feels almost church-like,’ (Begum quoted in Westall, 2024).

Her career also includes a number of awards, commissions, residencies, and projects. In 2000, she received Arts and Humanities Research Board award for postgraduate study and in 2006 she was awarded a British Council Residency in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2021 she recevied the Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture from the Royal Academy of Arts and in December 2019 she was elected Royal Academician (RA).

In 2011, Begum purchased a former engineering factory in a dilapidated state and, in 2017, began renovations with Peter Culley of the architectural practice, Spatial Affairs Bureau. The site was transformed into an art campus, subsequently valued at £2.5 million, which went on to win the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) London Awards in 2023. The clean structural geometry of the architecture and the design mirror her painterly practice. Rana Begum lives and works in London, maintaining a house-studio in The Mews House. Rana Begum's work is held in UK public collections, including the Arts Council Collection, British Council Collection, Government Art Collection, and the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at UEA in Norwich.