Firi Rahman, born in 1990 in Colombo, sustains a multi-disciplinary practice as an observer, archivist, and activist to engage rapidly evolving urban redevelopment that endangers heritage sites while de-territorializing communities and identities across Sri Lanka. His works raise poignant questions about
the Anthropocene era, temporalities of identity, and gentrification within Sri Lanka. Rahman frequently adopts an autobiographical stance in responding to rapid changes within his neighborhood colony, Slave Island, and to mobilize, conserve, and archive stories of inheritance and identity. Animism is a recurring undercurrent in Rahman’s work, which often uses the symbolic presence of animals to evoke relationships and emotions. Working between the spectrums of deeply personal expression and community-driven participatory projects, Rahman is a co-founder of We are from Here, a collective practice rooted in Slave Island which collects and exhibits the ethnographic histories of urban Colombo. Rahman acquired training at Manchester College, UK.
Picture by Cassie Machado
Contact:
ifiri@me.com
Bio
Solo exhibitions
2024 Swept Away Like Leaves | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo
2020 Enclosed | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo
2016 Prediction Extinction | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo
2015 Unconventional Beauty | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo
Projects
2024 In Between: The Existence of Firdaus | Geoffrey Bawa Trust, Lunuganga, Bentota
Group exhibitions
2024 Legacies of Crossings | Shahnaz Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2024 The Past is a Country | Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Los Angeles, United States of America
2024 Matara Festival for the Arts
2023 Dhaka Art Summit
2022 Encounters | Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka
2022 Language is Migrant | Colomboscope
2020 Held Apart Together | Colomboscope
2019 Sea Change | Colomboscope
2018 Sub-sequence | Audio visual show
2018 Island Mentality | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2018 Embody Power | Sapumal Foundation
2017 Human Rights Arts Festival
2017 Re/Evolution | Colomboscope
2016 Conceiving Space | Colombo Art Biennale, Sri Lanka
2016 Liminal Space: Reconfiguring Identity and Place through Contemporary Art | JDA Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2015 Shadow Scenes | Colomboscope
Other collaboration
2024 Way of Forest | Small Cat Advocacy and Research | Colomboscope
2023 Wet Land: a group that experiments, dabbles and plays
2020 The packet | Instigating Collaborative Study
2018 Mural Project | We Are from Here Project
Residencies
Collections