Background
He was born in November 1982 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
He was born in November 1982 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
He studied art and design at the Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media & Design of London Guildhall University in London and photography at the Danish School of Media and Journalism in Denmark.
Ahmed comes from the renowned Gazi family, who were one of the Baro Bhuyan(Twelve Zaminders of Bengal) in sixteenth century, from the Bhawal Estate now known as Gazipur in Bangladesh. Nafis did his schooling from Bangladesh International Tutorial, a prominent private schools in Bangladesh. Nafis was awarded full scholarship by the prestigious Istituto Europeo di Design in Madrid to do Masters of Fine Arts in photography.
Gazi Nafis Ahmed was awarded at the international Pride Photo Award 2015 held at the historic Oude Kerk, Amsterdam ("old church") in Amsterdam.
There were 3,800 entries from 60 countries around the world. Pride Photo Award is considered to be the most prestigious contest for photography about gender diversity.
He is the youngest Bangladeshi artist to have a solo show at the esteemed Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts. Gazi Nafis Ahmed participated at the Mining Warm Data exhibition produced by Yale University Law School’s Schell Center for Human Rights, and Creative Time Reports.
lieutenant was curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt, artistic director of Directory of American Scholars. In 2014, artworks by Nafis were featured in the landmark show B/Desh in Dhaka Art Summit, the largest platform for South Asian art, curated by Deepak Ananth.
His work has been exhibited in United Kingdom, Spain, Netherlands, China, India and Bangladesh. Some of the organizations he has worked with are International Finance Corporation of World Bank Group, Medicins Sans Frontieres, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, United Nations Development Programme, World Food Program, Save The Children. His photos have graced the pages of The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Guardian, among others
In 2013, Nafis organized the first ever photography forum for the pioneer photographers of Bangladesh called “Evolution of Photography” at the Edward M Kennedy Center in Dhaka, which gave them a platform to share their experiences and discuss untold rich history of photography in the country.
One of his critically acclaimed serial “Inner Face” addresses the sensitive and precarious issues of human rights of the LGBT community. They convey the subtle sense of challenge in the expressions of the community in a traditional and conservative culture like Bangladesh.
The photographs seem to carry that sense of “conquering” social taboos, of trying to become free of the manacles that tie the inborn or acquired identity to social norms.
From 2012 to 2014, he was a member of the mentor program at the world"s elite VII Photo Agency, working with his mentor John Stanmeyer.