Born in Bangladesh, Rana Begum moved to St. Albans with her family in February 1985. She vividly recalls the contrast in light between Bangladesh and the UK. As a child, these reflections were seemingly arbitrary; now, light has become one of the core elements in Begum’s work. Her installation, No.1367 Mesh, a conglomeration of powder-coated galvanised steel mesh forms, or ‘clouds’, is currently on display at Pallant House Gallery until July 2026. This work cascades from the ceiling, through the 18th century house’s winding staircase. The work is designed to evolve in the space – each section is installed individually and connected to create the overall shape. Begum told STIR that her intention was not to be “fighting with the architecture but instead [to] encourage people to observe, take a minute and pause."

Light enters the work at different angles through the many windows at the Pallant House Gallery – the ones that frame the staircase and the small windows dotted along the two floors. At different times of day, the artwork moves between light and dark, its appearance changing as it is viewed from different points on the staircase. Natural light, in this way, acts as a co-collaborator in creating a piece that feels alive, capturing the motion and change of the work’s environment. “The relationship with the body and the space is important to me, if the work was just suspended from the ceiling and people were only allowed to see it from lower ground then it wouldn't work for me. What is great about the stairs is that they enable a flow around the work and allow you to engage with it physically. My work makes you aware of the environment that you are in and heightens your senses, whether to light, texture, material, or form and I think that gives you a different kind of experience,” Begum explains.

Using minimal abstraction, through her work at both Pallant House and Kate MacGarry Gallery, Begum focuses on form, colour and light as core elements.

No.1367 Mesh, as suggested by the title, is part of a larger series of mesh works, first exhibited in 2021 after the pandemic. It was the silence and physical isolation precipitated by the UK’s lockdowns that created the conditions for introspection, a state embodied in this work. The material for this series is linked to Begum’s experimentation with fishing nets during her 2018 residency at Tate St Ives.

“I had two options for Pallant House, there were two materials I was thinking about, one series was the cloud and the other was the new body of work that is currently on show at Kate MacGarry gallery,” says the artist. Begum’s eponymous show, her second solo exhibition at the gallery, features her new Louvre series (inspired by the slats of window blinds where light filters through) and Relief Panel series. These works incorporate a range of materials such as stone, stainless steel, painted glass, aluminium and watercolour on paper.

“This is a series of works that I have been trying to explore for almost 10 years now. I found a model I made in 2016 of this work, which was strange to look back at,” Begum recalls. Over the years, Begum’s focus with this series has been on not just the form but the materiality of the pieces.

No.1395 Louvre (2024) features tilted panes of painted glass in graduated shades of blue, mounted on a stainless steel frame. Similarly designed, No.1394 Louvre (2024) is made of stone on one side and mirror-finish stainless steel on the other, threaded onto thin wires and suspended from the ceiling. The mirrors reflect the white gallery and its natural light and the dark grey, tilted stone slabs. The details in the stone, accentuated by their reflections in the mirror, invite viewers to consider the contrast between the materials and how this contrast resonates with them.

Using minimal abstraction, through her work at both Pallant House and Kate MacGarry Gallery, Begum focuses on form, colour and light as core elements. These elements are essential for her to create a space that captures a “sense of release and relief as well as a desire to slow down and breathe”, the artist explains. Her work aims to capture the physical act of breathing, including stimulating the brain into action and then allowing it to find its way to exhale steadily. Begum’s exhibitions in both spaces neither fight nor negotiate with the past of the buildings; rather, they add spaces reflective of the viewer's mind, body and environment. She notes, “With everything that is happening in the world right now, we sometimes forget ourselves and it becomes difficult to relate to someone or something else. When you are in touch with yourself you are likely to have much more empathy - my work is trying to create just that space.”