Remember to Live was the first solo exhibition in a public gallery by London-based British-Bengali artist and writer Mohammed Z. Rahman. With a background in social anthropology, Rahman works with painting, sculpture, zine-making and illustration to interweave personal, social and folk histories of migration, labour, queerness, family and class.
Comprising a new series of paintings on canvas, boards and found crates, the exhibition built on Rahman’s ongoing research into dreams and memories from the many communities that make up the artist’s relationship to London.
Often taking a conversation between Rahman and their subject as a starting point, the works included in this exhibition each tell their own unique story while straddling themes of interspecies, internationalist and intergenerational kinship, subculture and labour. Among the many works included are a dreamscape developed in collaboration with Ballroom house mother, Bambi Laveaux; a memory of Rahman watching their brother practice kickflips in Ilford in the 2000s; and a painted wooden crate commemorating workers, carers, lovers and agitators who were active in the early AIDS crisis in the UK.
Throughout Remember to Live, Rahman experimented with painting as a way of marking unsung histories and dreams important to them, inviting us into new and old worlds in order to reevaluate the mundane, imaginary and bygone as magically alive.
Remember to Live was part of Peer’s 2025 Programme and was accompanied by a series of events as part of our Talks, Events and Workshops programme.
Biography:
Mohammed Z. Rahman (b.1997, lives and works in London, UK). Solo exhibitions include, A Flame is a Petal (2024) and City of Burrows (2023), both Phillida Reid. He has previously worked on projects with institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery; Brent Biennial; Metroland Cultures; Goethe-Institut; UCL Culture; Tate Modern; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; and V&A East. Rahman has also worked with grassroots arts organisations, including Oitij-jo, gal-dem, Writing Our Legacy, Skin Deep Magazine, Wasafiri Magazine, Aire Place Studios and The Willowherb Review. Rahman is an awardee of the Frieze Tate Fund 2024.
Supporters:
Remember to Live is produced and commissioned by Peer, London.
Headline Supporter: Lorenzo Legarda Leviste and Fahad Mayet. With thanks to Yasmine Bassili and Phillida Reid.
Peer is an Arts Council England, National Portfolio Organisation and is supported by Hackney Council through a Voluntary Sector lease.
Press:
Studio International
