Ramak Bamzar (b. 1980, Tehran) is a Naarm/Melbourne–based visual artist and fine-art photographer. Working across portraiture, still life and installation, she draws on personal and cultural memory to explore selfhood, body image and gendered experience. Clothing, gesture and posture become a quiet language of the body, articulated through colour, texture and light to hold both gentleness and defiance.

            Her practice is grounded in hands-on making – she designs and paints backdrops, builds simple architectural forms, sources and alters garments, and works with carefully controlled studio lighting. In conversation with art history and the psychology of looking, her images consider how environments shape the body and the self. She is also an emerging writer, working between Persian and English on memoir and essays that extend the concerns of her visual work.

        
Education
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2025 to 2026 – Master of Teaching, Federation University
2023 – Master of Fine Arts, RMIT University
2024 – TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, CBD College, Melbourne
2005 – Bachelor of Photography, Azad University of Art & Architecture, Tehran
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Employment & Community
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2015–Present – Fine-Art Photographer & Art Instructor, Melbourne
2023–Present – Mentor, RMIT Mentoring Program, Melbourne
2023 – Board Associate (Design), Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2021 – Art Collection & Archival Photographer, RMIT Art Collection, Melbourne
2016 – Fashion Photographer & Stylist, PRI Models, Melbourne
2007–2010 – Freelance Photographer, Karaj, Iran
2003–2005 – Photojournalist, Ekbatan Magazine, Tehran
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Solo Exhibitions
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2024 – Moustachioed Women and Rhinoplastic Girls, Manningham Art Gallery, Melbourne
2023 – Moustachioed Women and Rhinoplastic Girls, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne
2022 – Moustachioed Women and Rhinoplastic Girls, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney
2017 – Iranian Wedding, Windowspace Gallery, Beeac, VIC
2016 – In Pain, Off the Kerb Gallery, Melbourne
2015 – Iranian Wedding, Sydney Town Hall & Head On Photo Festival, Sydney
 
Selected Group Exhibitions

2025 – Satellite Projects, Melbourne
2025 – Olive Cotton Award, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre, NSW
2025 – Auckland Festival of Photography, Auckland
2025 – de-centre re-centre, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (LWAG), WA
2024 – Medieval to Metal, Art Gallery of Ballarat, VIC
2024 – William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Museum of Australian Photography
2024 – Head On Exposure Awards, Sydney
2024 – Make it Real, TEMU House & Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards, Malaysia
2024 – DER GREIF – Guest Room: Renée Mussai & Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Munich, Germany
2023 – Your 501® Story: The Exhibition, PhotoVogue
2023 – Anonymous from Iran, Culture Lab LIC, New York, USA
2023 – DEBUT XIX, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne
2023 – DER GREIF – Guest Room: David Campany & Taous Dahmani, Munich, Germany
2023 – RED, Sol Gallery, Melbourne
2022 – RMIT University Graduation Show, Melbourne
2022 – Break Away, Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne
2022 – William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
2022 – Woman, Life, Freedom, BlackCat Gallery, Melbourne
2019 – ALCHEMY, Sherbrooke Art Gallery, Melbourne
2019 – Women, Kapi Art Space, Melbourne
2019 – Emerald Arts Society, Melbourne
2015 – IPF Photo Prize, The Good Copy, Melbourne
2004 – Bam Earthquake, Dresden, Germany
2003 – Fajr International Theatre Festival (Students), Tehran
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Publications (selected)
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2025 – Exhibition review, ArtsHub Australia (Jo Pickup)
2024 – Art Collector Magazine
2023 – De Morgen, Brussels, Belgium
2023 – Australian Arts Review: On the Couch with Ramak Bamzar
2023 – Art Guide Australia: The strength and struggle of Iranian women
2023 – Arts Weekly, 3MBS
2023 – 3RRR Radio: Listen to Friendly Neighbours; Tedious Lines & Lunch Woes
2023 – Ballarat International Foto Biennale, 3BA Ballarat Radio
2023 – Pro Femina, 3CR Radical Radio
2023 – Capture Magazine: Q&A – Ramak Bamzar
2023 – The Guardian Australia: Ballarat International Foto Biennale
2023 – SBS Australia: Hope is what drives us
2023 – ArtsHub: Voices of Resistance
2023 – Art Edit Magazine, “I AM WOMAN,” No. 35
2023 – Head On Foundation: Women Looking at Women
2022 – ArtsHub: More than a singular image…
2022 – The Guardian Australia: “From camel woes to sperm smugglers – in pictures”
2021 – SBS Persian: “Confronting a religion that has become a patriarchal culture”
2017 – “Extreme Theatre,” Windowspace-Beeac
2016 – Dodho Magazine: “Storytelling: Things that are Important,” Barcelona, Spain
2016 – Edge of Humanity Magazine: “Homosexuals in Iran”
2015 – Ezra Magazine, Interview, Adelaide
2015 – The Sydney Morning Herald, Art column
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Professional Talks & Discussions
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2025 – Women's Chat Series, Satellite Projects (Jenny Port)
2025 – Self-Discovery and Vulnerability: Embracing Truth in the Creative Process, Burrinja Cultural Centre, Melbourne
2024 – Unjustly Condemned, Monash University, Melbourne
2024 – Small Acts of Resistance, Museum of Australian Photography
2024 – Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards, TEMU House, Malaysia
2023 – In conversation: Ramak Bamzar with Julie McLaren, Art Gallery of Ballarat
2023 – Interrupting the Photographic Gaze, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
2023 – Stories that Stir: Self-Reflection, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney
2022 – BRIGHTSPACER Gallery, Melbourne
2019 – Being an Artist is a Job, Burrinja Cultural Centre, Melbourne
2015 – Imagining Iran: Contemporary Iranian Image-Makers, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
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Awards
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2025 – Olive Cotton Award (Finalist)
2024 – Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards (Winner)
2024 – William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize (Finalist)
2024 – Head On Exposure Award (Finalist)
2023 – Art Edit Self-Represented Artist Prize (Winner)
2023 – PhotoVogue Your 501® Story (Finalist)
2022 – William & Winifred Bowness Photography Prize (Finalist)
2022 – Maggie Diaz Photography Prize for Women (Highly Commended)
2019 – Tokyo International Foto Awards (Honourable Mention)
2003 – Fajr International Festival (Honourable Mention)