Rah Naqvi is an Indian artist, based in Mumbai/Amsterdam. Their work engages in narratives themed around religious and societal polarisation, centring art and their tool for activism. The materiality and techniques in their work are at play to create familiarity with the viewer, with satire, whimsical props, and softness you are made to believe something joyous awaits.
Rah studied Liberal Arts at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and earned their Bachelor of Textiles from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. They had their first solo exhibition Bashaoor, at Clark House, Mumbai in 2018, followed by their second solo exhibition, Sharam o Haya, at Ame Nue, Hamburg in 2019. They have also shown their work at the Bangkok Art Biennale, MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Thailand and Kunsthall Trondheim in Norway.
Rah has been part of other group exhibitions namely, Hunger: For Life, Love, Human Contact, Touch, Freedom, Akinci, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2020); Inherited Memory, an online exhibition at TARQ, Mumbai, India (2020); A beast, a god, a line, Para Site, Hong Kong, curated by Para Site Director, Cosmin Costinas. Their work has also been shown at TS1 Yangon, Yangon, Myanmar (June 6 – 22, 2018); Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland (Jul 20 – Oct 7, 2018); Apexart NY सावधान: The Regimes of Truth, curated by Shaunak Mahbubani, New Delhi (2018); Micro subversions Playbook, Conflictorium, Ahmedabad, curated by Avni Sethi and Venkataraman Divakar; and The Exhaustion project, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, curated by Abhijan Toto.
Rah has been a part of the De Ateliers Residency, Amsterdam in 2019-2021 as well as the Forecast Forum Residency, Berlin in 2018. They were the recipient of 'The Phenomenal She' award in 2019 conferred by the Indian National Bar Association and NID Ford Foundation Grant in 2018.