Dala Nasser’s Textile Vision Takes Centre Stage at Frieze Abu Dhabi

There is something profoundly moving about the act of rubbing and staining, of allowing material to be altered by hand and by time. This autumn, Abu Dhabi witnesses the realisation of such a vision when artist Dala Nasser’s inaugural Frieze Abu Dhabi Artist Award commission comes to life at Manarat Al Saadiyat. The work, titled ‘Qubbat Duris’, emerges from the artist’s careful consideration of place, heritage and the transformative power of textile and earth.

Curated by Nabila Abdel Nabi, the award enables an ambitious new commission to be realised within the fair’s landscape. Nasser’s installation speaks to the site itself through a timber framework that evokes the heritage qualities of its surroundings. Draped across this structure, cloth undergoes a meticulous process of manipulation and transformation. The fabrics are treated with charcoal, ash, clay and terracotta, materials that carry within them the memory of earth and time. Through rubbing and staining, the textiles become something else entirely: a bridge between the contemporary moment and the stories embedded in Abu Dhabi’s cultural heritage.

The installation takes centre stage during Frieze Abu Dhabi from 19 to 22 November, inviting visitors into an immersive landscape where material, light and architectural form converge. It is the kind of work that rewards presence, that asks one to move through it slowly, to observe how shadow falls across treated cloth, to understand how an artist can transform the humble into the profound.

This inaugural award, supported by Friends of Frieze Abu Dhabi, represents a commitment to nurturing artistic vision and enabling works of genuine ambition to flourish. In ‘Qubbat Duris’, that vision is realised with grace and intellectual rigour, a meditation on how we remember, how we make, and how art might speak to the particular genius of a place.