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 Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh; the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Alserkal Avenue, Dubai; the Objective Center for Film and Photography ,Singapore; LES Gallery, New York City; The Foundry, Dubai; Demarkten, Brussels; F3 – Space for Photography, Berlin; Triennial of Photography, Hamburg; Format Festival, UK; PHOTO Festival, Melbourne; jimei x arles International Photo Festival, China; Photo SCHWEIZ, Switzerland; Lumix Festival, Germany; and “Chobi Mela X” International Photography Festival, Bangladesh.

She maintains an impressive list of accolades, including winning the Future Generation Art Prize 2023–24, being a finalist for the Samdani Art Award 2023 and a finalist for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize 2022. She has been selected as an artist-in-residence at the esteemed Rijksakademie 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. She has also participated in prestigious programs such as the 2018 Joop Swart Master Class by World Press Photo and was a finalist for the IPA Award in 2018.

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.

The artist lives and works between Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Zurich, Switzerland.