Remi Rana-Allen explores the construction of British Indian female identity and ‘the maternal,’ informed by her lived experience as a British-born Indian woman. Her identity is mapped onto her body, its appearance, perception, and reception, reflecting the ongoing negotiation between cultural heritage and societal expectations. While of Indian descent and culturally British, Remi does not identify as English, a distinction that underscores the layered complexity of diasporic identity. Her multidisciplinary practice spans painting, digital print, film, and object-based installation. These mediums are shaped by processes that speak to intimacy, transformation, time, and touch. Through the lenses of postcolonial and feminist theory, her work confronts and reflects upon issues of race, gender inequality, sexuality, migration, and cultural assimilation. Central to her practice is a sense of urgency and loss, as articulated in her reflection on the “slow dilution of my cultural heritage as it seeps further from my grasp.” (Rana-Allen, 2018). Remi’s practice is both personal and political, seeking not only to represent, but also to intervene in ongoing conversations about identity, power, and belonging.
 
Remi Rana-Allen holds a BA in Graphic Design from Norwich School of Art (1992), an MA in Fine Art Printmaking from Buckinghamshire New University (2012), and an MPhil (2017). She completed a Practice-Based PhD at Chelsea College of Arts (2024).
 
Remi has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has received numerous awards, including the Scott Mead Award and a residency at The British School at Rome (2019), the a-n Time Space Money Bursary (2021), and Arts Council England’s Develop Your Creative Practice award (2022). She was shortlisted for the Janome Fine Art in Textile Award and the Whitworth Art Fund New Collecting Award for British South Asian women artists working with textiles (2021), The Contemporary Open 2024 at New Art Exchange (Nottingham) and the Bertha Activism Award (2023).
 
A committed advocate for equity in the arts, Remi was recently appointed Vice Chair of the steering board for CVAN South-East, where she represents artists from the global ethnic majority. She devised the Equity Diversity Inclusivity Research Student Mentoring Scheme at Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon (University of the Arts London), where she continues to mentor new PhD candidates.
 
She is an Associate Fellow at TrAIN (Transnational Art, Identity and Nation) and is currently working on a collaborative research project between UAL and the University of Nairobi. Remi teaches on the BA Fine Art and MA Pathways at Chelsea and Camberwell, is an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Nairobi, and a Western tutor for Educators’ Republic in Shanghai. She is also the founder of BL&ME – Brown Leaders & Makers Exist – a research hub dedicated to supporting and amplifying underrepresented voices in art and academia.