Rana Begum

Rana Begum’s (b. 1977, Sylhet, Bangladesh; lives/ works: London, UK) work focuses on the interplay between light and color, blurring the boundaries between sculpture, painting and architecture. Her visual language draws from the urban landscape as well as geometric patterns from traditional Islamic art and architecture. Light is fundamental to her process. Her work moves across a wide range of media—from metal, glass, and stone to paper, wood, and textiles—each absorbing or reflecting light to produce an experience that is at once temporal and sensorial.

Begum holds a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design and an MFA in Painting from the Slade School of Fine Art. Her first museum solo exhibition Space Light Colour opened at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in May 2017 and traveled to Djanogly Gallery in Nottingham, UK in July 2018. Other solo exhibitions include: Boundless Geometry, The Farjam Collection, Dubai, UAE (2026); Reflection, SCAD Museum of Art, GA, USA (2025); Ordered Form, St Albans Museum + Gallery, UK (2023); Dappled Light, The Box, Plymouth, UK (2023); Infinite Geometry, Wanås Konst, The Wanås Foundation, Sweden (2021); Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh (2014 and 2020); Perception and Reflection, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2019); A Conversation with Light and Form, Tate St Ives, Cornwall, UK (2018); The Space Between, Parasol Unit, London, UK (2016); and New Works, Delfina Foundation, London, UK (2010).

Begum’s work has featured in international group exhibitions at institutions including the Taipei Biennial (2025); Arp Museum, Germany (2025); NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery (2024); Desert X, California (2023); Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University, Texas (2022); Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2021); Creative Folkestone Triennial (2021); National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC (2018); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge (2018); Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, Netherlands (2017); and the Vienna Biennale (2015).

Her work is held in public and private collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Australia; the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmania; the Government Art Collection and Arts Council Collection, UK; the Royal Academy of Arts, London; the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India; the Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai; and the Samdani Art Foundation, Bangladesh.