Rachel Dedman (b. 1989, London) is a curator, writer, and art historian.
From 2013-2019 Rachel was based in Beirut, Lebanon. Recent projects include At the still point of the turning world, there is the dance, for Ashkal Alwan’s Home Works Forum 8 at Sursock Museum, Lebanon, 2019; Shorthand: Nadim Karam, notes from the archive, A.MUSE.UM, Lebanon, 2019; A Thousand Hands: Legacies and Futures of Care in Brent, Kiln Theatre, London, 2018; Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery, Palestinian Museum, West Bank, 2018; and Midad: The Public and Intimate Lives of Arabic Calligraphy, Dar el-Nimer, Lebanon, 2017.
In November 2019 Rachel joined the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, as Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East. She is curating Jameel Prize 6 for the V&A in 2021.
Outside the V&A, Rachel is curating Material Power for Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, and the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester. She is co-founder and editor of polycephaly.net, and one third of Radio Earth Hold, a research and broadcast collective supported by the Serpentine Galleries and Nottingham Contemporary.
Rachel is published in Ibraaz, Spike, e-flux, and REORIENT among others, and is currently a Forum Fellow at Art Dubai. She holds a First-class degree in the history of art from St John’s College, Oxford, and was the Von Clemm Postgraduate Fellow at Harvard University, 2012-13, where she specialised in contemporary art from the Middle East.
Email: racheljdedman@gmail.com
From 2013-2019 Rachel was based in Beirut, Lebanon. Recent projects include At the still point of the turning world, there is the dance, for Ashkal Alwan’s Home Works Forum 8 at Sursock Museum, Lebanon, 2019; Shorthand: Nadim Karam, notes from the archive, A.MUSE.UM, Lebanon, 2019; A Thousand Hands: Legacies and Futures of Care in Brent, Kiln Theatre, London, 2018; Labour of Love: New Approaches to Palestinian Embroidery, Palestinian Museum, West Bank, 2018; and Midad: The Public and Intimate Lives of Arabic Calligraphy, Dar el-Nimer, Lebanon, 2017.
In November 2019 Rachel joined the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, as Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East. She is curating Jameel Prize 6 for the V&A in 2021.
Outside the V&A, Rachel is curating Material Power for Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, and the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester. She is co-founder and editor of polycephaly.net, and one third of Radio Earth Hold, a research and broadcast collective supported by the Serpentine Galleries and Nottingham Contemporary.
Rachel is published in Ibraaz, Spike, e-flux, and REORIENT among others, and is currently a Forum Fellow at Art Dubai. She holds a First-class degree in the history of art from St John’s College, Oxford, and was the Von Clemm Postgraduate Fellow at Harvard University, 2012-13, where she specialised in contemporary art from the Middle East.
Email: racheljdedman@gmail.com