Ryan Ras
After Ken Livingstone was recorded asking Evening Standard’s Oliver Feingold if he was a German war criminal, he was forced to publicly apologize 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 apologizing 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 ritualized and institutionalized narratives.
RESUME
1980 Born in Harare, Zimbabwe. Currently 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
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 ‘Storytelling’, Man and Eve Gallery, London ‘Year_07 Art Projects’, London
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 AND AWARDS
2005 Finalist, 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