Rahaab Allana conferred “Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”

On behalf of the French government, H.E. Mr Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India, today conferred the insignia of Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters) on Mr Rahaab Allana, Curator and Publisher, Alkazi Foundation for the Arts, at a special ceremony at the Embassy of France in India.

This distinction comes in recognition of Mr Allana’s outstanding career as curator of contemporary South Asian photography, as well as his decisive contributions to Indo-French artistic cooperation across the years.

Throughout his career, Mr Allana has contributed to and edited several publications and curated exhibitions on South Asian photography and its trans-national histories, working internationally with museums, universities, festivals and other arts institutions across the world, including in France the Rencontres d’Arles, Musée du Quai Branly, Centre National des Arts Plastiques (CNAP) and more. He is the Founder of ASAP/art, South Asia’s first news and reviews app for contemporary art. He is also a fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and was honorary research associate at University College London, United Kingdom. He currently serves on the Arts and Culture Committee, Asia Society (India Chapter).

Mr Allana’s artistic journey of cooperation with France spans two decades, starting with the exhibition of the Alkazi Collection at the Arles Photo Festival in 2007. Since then, Mr Allana has played an instrumental role in driving Indo-French projects around lens-based art, including the curation of two multi-disciplinary photography exhibitions for Bonjour India festivals, Mutations in 2018, and Convergence in 2022. The latter initiative was the first ever archival survey exhibition of French photographers in India from the 19th century to the 1990s. It was displayed at the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and later travelled for one year across the country. In 2022, Mr Allan also co-curated Terra Nullius: Nobody’s Land at Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa, showcasing eight French artists working with Artificial Intelligence around ecology and non-human image making. His close association with cultural institutions in France and India also led him to be elected to the Board of Directors of Alliance française de Delhi. An ongoing research project of Mr Allana’s is the unseen legacy in South Asia of renowned French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, whom Mr Allana deeply admires.

Speaking at the investiture, the Ambassador of France to India, H.E. Mr Thierry Mathou, said: “We feel very lucky to have longstanding partners like Rahaab Allana who have such a deep and sincere interest in French visual art history. Each exhibition or publication we have collaborated on was an opportunity to create unprecedented parallels between lens-based practitioners from both France and India. For almost 20 years, the curatorial work of Rahaab has truly helped France and India to learn from each other and change our perceptions. This decoration bestowed on him on behalf of the French Government is a recognition of his remarkable achievements and invaluable role in fostering cultural exchanges between our two countries.”

Accepting the recognition, Rahaab Allana said: “It is an honour to receive this commendation from the French Government for the many partnerships and collaborations that have been consistently realised between India and France over the last 2 decades. This recognition is one that highlights the many visible and invisible partners and cultural workers who strive to create a greater freedom for expression at this critical time. It is moment to further consolidate our ties with institutions and individuals in France who value the dynamics of cultural history to the highest degree.”

L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters)

The French government distinction l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) is conferred on “persons who have distinguished themselves by their creativity in the field of art, culture and literature or for their contribution to the influence of arts in France and throughout the world.” Some noted Indian recipients of this honour in the past include Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Raghu Rai, Ebrahim Alkazi, Habib Tanveer, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Upamanyu Chatterjee.