Ashfika Rahman b. 1988

Born in 1988 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Ashfika Rahman studied photography at Hochschule Hannover, Germany, and also received a professional degree in photography from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute, Bangladesh. Rahman’s practice straddles the boundaries between art and documentary, drawing inspiration from historical archives which she recontextualizes using contemporary media. Rahman is deeply influenced by her mother's role as a social worker in Bangladesh, serving as the creative impetus behind an alternative archive through which she aims to illuminate the marginalized communities in her homeland.

Rahman’s work has been exhibited at several international venues, including solo exhibitions at Gallery Vitrine, Basel (2022) and Drik Gallery, Dhaka (2022). She has also participated in group shows at Busan Biennale, South Korea (2024); Pinchuk Art Museum, Ukraine (2024); the Zurich Human Rights Festival, Switzerland (2024); Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh (2023); the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2023); LES Gallery, New York City (2022); Triennial of Photography, Hamburg (2022); PHOTO Festival, Melbourne (2022); Demarkten, Brussels (2021); Photo SCHWEIZ, Switzerland (2021); Format Festival, UK (2021); the Foundry, Dubai (2021); F3 – Space for Photography, Berlin (2020); the Center for Film and Photography, Singapore (2020); Alserkal Avenue, Dubai (2019); “Chobi Mela X” International Photography Festiva, Bangladesh (2019); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); jimei x arles International Photo Festival, China (2019); and Lumix Festival, Germany (2018), among other participations.

She maintains an impressive list of accolades, including being the recipient of the Future Generation Art Prize 2024. She was also a finalist for the Samdani Art Award in 2023, the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2022 and the IPA Award in 2018. She has been selected as an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam for 2024–26. In 2021, she received the Format Festival Open Call Award, and in 2020, she was nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award, in addition to participating in the New York Times Portfolio Review. She was acknowledged in 2019 as one of the “12 Women Photographers to Watch” by PH Museum, Bologna, Italy. She has also participated in prestigious programs such as the 2018 Joop Swart Master Class by World Press Photo.

Academically Rahman lectures at prestigious institutions such as the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Switzerland and the Hochschule Hannover in Germany. Moreover, her involvement extends to the Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Bangladesh, where she serves as a faculty member.

Her work is part of several important collections, including the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh; and the July Museum, Bangladesh.

The artist lives and works between Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Amsterdam, Netherlands.