Wanda-Marie Rana

Artist Statement

This Memory is Redacted But Not Gone
Inkjet Prints, Family Snapshots, Mixed Media
2021-2023

This Memory is Redacted But Not Gone explores themes of family, identity, and memory, some things I struggle with but try to reconcile through art. This ongoing body of work is centered around the absence of my dad and my Indian culture.

Bio

Wanda-Marie Rana (b. 1997) is a photographer based in Syracuse working toward her MFA in art photography at Syracuse University. Born in Hawaii, Rana started moving from state to state at a young age, never feeling confident in calling any of them “home.” She later returned to Syracuse, New York, where she had spent a few years as a child, to start her college career on a grant in civil engineering at Syracuse University in 2015.

Rana received her BS in civil engineering with a minor in art photography in 2019, and then decided to pursue her passion in art. Because she moved so often in her younger years, Rana has always had an interest in photography, because it allowed her to capture and take her memories with her. She really fell in love with it while taking a class in black-and-white photography, being in the darkroom and watching the memories form on the page in front of her. Her work employs both new images and archival material. Much of her work has to do with themes of home, memory, identity, and evoking the effects of presences and absences in her life.

As an undergraduate, she often would visit the Light Work Gallery on campus. Some of the visiting artists at Light Work who influenced her included Robert Benjamin, Melissa Cantanese, and Rinko Kawauchi. Other influences include Raymond Meeks and Astrid Reischwitz.

Rana has exhibited in a group show at Random Access Gallery at Syracuse University, the Light Work Hallway Gallery, and the University of Iowa. While working on her MFA, she is also working full-time as an Engineer Trainee for the New York State Department of Transportation.