Mohammed Z Rahman’s Art Now display, Never the Same, is staged in two theatrical ‘acts’, conjuring painterly worlds inspired by love letters, songs, poems, recipes, dreams and memories, with a Tate collection work providing an entry point into each.

Mohammed Z Rahman is a British-Bengali artist based in London. With a background in social anthropology, Rahman approaches his practice with both an intimate and political force. His work is concerned with migration, cultural hybridity, historical erasure, labour, queerness and class, articulated through a rich understanding of colour and form. His work has been exhibited at venues including Whitechapel Gallery, and Peer in London, as well as at the Venice Biennale.

Act One addresses home, play and joy, starting with The Spaghetti House 2024, a painting based on a story the artist created in collaboration with their six-year-old niece.

The Lovers 2024 will bring visitors into Act Two. The painting depicts six people in a close embrace, interpreted either as laying down or as standing and dancing. Inspired by the eponymous tarot card, it explores the transformative powers of love and connection. Rahman builds on this work to explore love in its many forms, from sorrow to celebration, in paintings made for the exhibition. In one work, a figure weeps on a bed surrounded by the belongings of ex-lovers, while elsewhere, a humble crate is transformed into a box of chocolates, gifted as an act of love.

Mohammed Z Rahman states: ‘I have this hopeful idea of art and the world as brimming with magic conjured by ordinary people. With this show, I want to inspire people to know the power of their own stories, to take children seriously and to be brave in love.'

For more information please visit the Tate website.

Tagged 30/06.