Dala Nasser's Cemetery of Martyrs at Nottingham Contemporary in 2026
Nottingham Contemporary will host Dala Nasser's first UK solo exhibition in a major institution in Spring 2026. Titled Cemetery of Martyrs, the show transforms the gallery into a symbolic graveyard using frottage grave rubbings from cultural figures in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and England, spanning the Nahda (Arab Renaissance) to the present. Cyanotypes represent those with unreachable graves. A wooden skeletal structure holds black mourning fabrics, and an audio installation bridges the living and dead. The work honors intellectuals who fought for freedom and sovereignty in West Asia.
Key facts
- First solo exhibition in a major UK institution for Dala Nasser (b.1990, Lebanon).
- Exhibition runs Spring 2026 at Nottingham Contemporary.
- Features large-scale sculptural and sonic installation.
- Uses frottage technique to create charcoal grave rubbings.
- Rubbings collected from graves of artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, historians, journalists.
- Figures span mid-19th century (Nahda) to present day.
- Cyanotypes represent figures whose graves are unreachable or unknown.
- Mixed black mourning fabrics hang from a wooden skeletal structure across two galleries.
Entities
Artists
- Dala Nasser
Institutions
- Nottingham Contemporary
Locations
- Nottingham
- United Kingdom
- Lebanon
- Egypt
- Jordan
- England
- Turkey
- Southern Lebanon
- West Asia