Ryan Ras

After Ken Livingstone was recorded asking Evening Standard’s Oliver Finegold if he was a German war criminal, he was forced to publicly apologise and acknowledge that his words were inappropriate. This incident inspired Ras to compile The Incomplete History of Public Apology: 1900-2005, a conceptual piece that took the shape of a book.

Ras describes his artworks as “research projects”, where meticulously collected data is processed in such a way that it animates a range of questions: What are the implications and reasons of saying “I am sorry” publicly? Has there been a historical change in the perception of public apology? And, perhaps the most contentious of all, to what extent do politics determine the nature of the ritual of publicly accepting responsibility for wrongdoings? The space that exists between the act of apologising and forgiveness represents that terrain that Ras investigates with humanity and intelligence.

Human relationships and the historical narratives they produce is a paramount concern in Ras’ artistic practice. Another of his “research projects”, Country History (2007), visually charts the history of country music through the names of singers and songwriters who have been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Ras adopts a strategy of research in order to highlight the mechanisms of exclusion and the inherent flaws obliquely present in ritualised and institutionalised narratives.

Born in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1980, lives and works in London.

Education
2003-2005: MA Communication Art and Design,Royal College of Art, London
1999–2002: BA (Hons) Graphic Design, University of Brighton

Solo Exhibition
2008: ‘Mea Culpa’, Man&Eve Gallery, London

Selected Group Exhibitions
2007: ‘Storytelling’, Man and Eve Gallery, London — ‘Year_07 Art Projects’, London — ‘Aqua Wynwood art fair’, Miami, USA
2005: ‘Royal Variety Show’, Circus Gallery, London, UK — ‘Again’, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art
2004: ‘Recycle’, Group Show, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art

Prizes/Awards
2005: Fianalist, Helen Hamlyn Design for Our Future Selves Award (RCA)
2004: Nominated for the Varley Award (RCA)
2003: Nominated for Creative Review’s ‘Creative Futures’
2002: First Prize, Fidelity Trust Award — Nominated for Birt Brill and Cardens Student of the Year