Ahmed Rasel_Bio
Ahmed Rasel (b.1988, Barishal) is a visual artist. He completed his Master’s degree in Bengali Literature from the University of Dhaka with the dream of becoming a poet and soon realized that photography could better express the poetic attitude he has developed on and around life which he thought was his forte. Rasel’s quest for poeticism, or inner vision, led him to the realm of the visual. He ended up earning a formal diploma in photography from Counter Foto, a Centre for visual arts. He is also working as an adjunct faculty member at the same institution. Rasel’s works attempt to present contemporary social, political, and environmental issues entwined with his personal experiences.
Practice
Ahmed Rasel prefers to blend photography with poetic vision and an acute social-political awareness about space/habitat in my practice. In his work, environmental issues represent a set of evolving perspectives on the complex, messy history of distressed urbanization in Bangladesh. Collective memories, climate change, urban and rural spaces that are regularly showing signs of change and even decay, and other key social concerns such as family bonding, and human relations are some of the crucial motifs that recur in my works. He believes every story is a part of world history, and every human being is a historical element. As a photographer, he sees the present world as part of the continuation of intimate human history, which some may refer to as warm data as against cold data.
Through my visual practice, he is preserving the local culture and history of Bangladesh, creating a future archive for the next generation.
Exhibition details, Awards, Publications
Several of Ahmed Rasel’s projects have been exhibited internationally in photo festivals and biennales including the Dhaka Art Summit in 2023 & 2018, the Chennai Photo Biennale 2021, and the Kolkata International Photo Festival in 2019, and Serendipity Art Festival among others. He was one of the finalists of the Samdani Art Award 2018 and one of the participants of the Young Subcontinent Project of Serendipity Arts Festival in 2017. Exhibited in ‘Just Another Photo Festival’ in New Delhi, India in 2017 and 2018. He was one of the finalists of the Stitching Screens grant by the Foundation of Indian Contemporary Art and Samdani Art Foundation in 2020.
Tate Modern listed Ahmed Rasel as one of the best ten artists of Dhaka Art Summit 2018. His work has been published in many local and international platforms including Maps of Disquiet, a two-part print publication of CPB Edition III for Delhi Art Fair 2022, ASAP Connect, Photographs published in Trouw, Private Magazine, F-stop magazine, Clove mag, The Daily Independent, The New Age among others.
Contact
Phone: +8801677068735
Email: ahmed1931rasel@gmail.com
Skype: rasel_photo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ahmedrasel_photo/