In Spring 2026 Nottingham Contemporary will present the first solo exhibition in a major cultural institution in the UK by Dala Nasser (b.1990, Lebanon). The exhibition will feature a large-scale sculptural and sonic installation that invites viewers into a collective space of mourning and remembrance.
Cemetery of Martyrs departs from Nasser’s past explorations into archaeological ruins, myths and histories of Southern Lebanon and wider West Asia; a region imprinted with the remnants of ancient cultures, landscapes and geology. Whereas Nasser’s previous work has drawn on historic subjects and sites, ranging from the tragic love story of mortal Adonis and Goddess Aphrodite, the 600-400 BCE tomb of King Hiram, or most recently, three tombs of Noah in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, her new work will transform the exhibition space into a symbolic graveyard.
By using the process of frottage (the technique of taking a rubbing from an uneven surface), Nasser will create a collection of charcoal grave rubbings collected from the graves of seminal artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, historians and journalists from across Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and England. Representing cultural figures from the mid nineteenth century (specifically the Nahda, Arab Renaissance) to the present day, the work honours those who fought for independence and freedom in times of political dominance and occupation and whose art, writing, and intellectual contributions have shaped the notion of true sovereignty in Western Asia. Cyanotypes will serve as the visual representation of the figures whose graves are unreachable or unknown, and will accompany the grave rubbings alongside black mourning fabrics. These mixed fabrics will hang from a wooden skeletal structure that traverses two gallery spaces, creating a canopy of graves that visitors can experience from underneath. An accompanying audio installation will permeate through the installation, featuring a voice communicating between both realms of the living and the dead.
Reflecting on the challenge of interpreting the extreme and unceasing violence of the present moment, Cemetery of Martyrs will invite audiences to contemplate the endurance of cultural sovereignty and to reckon with their own role in forging new pathways of thought and action. Nasser’s cemetery will create a collective space to gather and hold the voices and legacies of figures who were steadfast in their commitment to freedom; a graveyard to mourn, learn, and reaffirm the power of culture and humanity to connect us to histories of resistance and renewal.
Press release from Nottingham Contemporary
Image: Dala Nasser. Adonis River. Installation view at the Renaissance Society, 2023. Photography by Bob. Image courtesy of the artist and Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
