Alia Gargum Selected for New ContemporarieS
We warmly congratulate Alia Gargum's inclusion in this year’s New Contemporaries, one of the UK’s most prestigious platforms for emerging artists. It’s fantastic to see Alia’s work recognised in this way, and to reflect on her journey over recent years.
We first got to know Alia when she was selected to take part in D6’s Belonging digital exhibition curated by Shirin Zeraaty, and its subsequent presentation in Cyprus with D6EU.
Through a collaborative curatorial process, Shirin presented the work of 11 artists, with Alia reflecting: ‘Belonging was such a pivotal point for me in my practice and where I place it both digitally as well as physically.’
At the heart of the exhibition was the chance to learn from artists who have adapted to new environments and found ways to pursue their artistic practice, despite huge challenges; a reminder that artists are individuals with diverse perspectives.
A British-Libyan artist based in Newcastle, Alia explores politics, memory and cultural inheritance through a diasporic lens, with a sensitivity to how histories – both personal and collective – are carried, preserved and reshaped across generations.
These themes were powerfully articulated through Alia’s contribution to Belonging, My grandmother’s house, my country’s flag / منزل جدتي , علم بلدي.
‘The objects are representations of memories, histories, and lost objects that can be preserved,’ she explains. In one key work, a large steel structure references a flag holder, evoking ideas of nationhood, identity and displacement, while its impressions echo across adjoining paper pieces.
Alia describes laying large sheets of paper across floors, allowing weight, pressure and rust to naturally imprint their surfaces – before folding them into portable forms.
This act speaks to migration: the necessity of carrying fragments of one’s life, compressing experience into something transportable, even concealable. There is an embodied quality here too, with references to sweat, blood and the residue of human presence embedded in the material itself.
Her interest in language – particularly spoken Arabic and its transcription – extends this enquiry further, drawing influence from religious texts and political graffiti. Words become marks; marks become memory.
Alia’s selection for the New Contemporaries is a hugely well-deserved achievement. Now showing back in its first home in the North East at MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), the work this was a mosque / هذا كان مسجد is presented in a new site-responsive form (having previously been shown in another iteration at South London Gallery).
The piece continues her exploration of memory, space and transformation – reimagining sites that exist in recollection and reconstituting them in the present. As with much of her work, it carries a sense of quiet impermanence alongside powerful emotion: a space rebuilt, re-situated and felt.
The New Contemporaries exhibition at MIMA is on until 16 August 2026.
Image: Alia Gargum, this was a mosque / هذا كان مسجد, New Contemporaries 2026. Photo: Rachel Deakin
We first got to know Alia when she was selected to take part in D6’s Belonging digital exhibition curated by Shirin Zeraaty, and its subsequent presentation in Cyprus with D6EU.
Through a collaborative curatorial process, Shirin presented the work of 11 artists, with Alia reflecting: ‘Belonging was such a pivotal point for me in my practice and where I place it both digitally as well as physically.’
At the heart of the exhibition was the chance to learn from artists who have adapted to new environments and found ways to pursue their artistic practice, despite huge challenges; a reminder that artists are individuals with diverse perspectives.
A British-Libyan artist based in Newcastle, Alia explores politics, memory and cultural inheritance through a diasporic lens, with a sensitivity to how histories – both personal and collective – are carried, preserved and reshaped across generations.
These themes were powerfully articulated through Alia’s contribution to Belonging, My grandmother’s house, my country’s flag / منزل جدتي , علم بلدي.
‘The objects are representations of memories, histories, and lost objects that can be preserved,’ she explains. In one key work, a large steel structure references a flag holder, evoking ideas of nationhood, identity and displacement, while its impressions echo across adjoining paper pieces.
Alia describes laying large sheets of paper across floors, allowing weight, pressure and rust to naturally imprint their surfaces – before folding them into portable forms.
This act speaks to migration: the necessity of carrying fragments of one’s life, compressing experience into something transportable, even concealable. There is an embodied quality here too, with references to sweat, blood and the residue of human presence embedded in the material itself.
Her interest in language – particularly spoken Arabic and its transcription – extends this enquiry further, drawing influence from religious texts and political graffiti. Words become marks; marks become memory.
Alia’s selection for the New Contemporaries is a hugely well-deserved achievement. Now showing back in its first home in the North East at MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), the work this was a mosque / هذا كان مسجد is presented in a new site-responsive form (having previously been shown in another iteration at South London Gallery).
The piece continues her exploration of memory, space and transformation – reimagining sites that exist in recollection and reconstituting them in the present. As with much of her work, it carries a sense of quiet impermanence alongside powerful emotion: a space rebuilt, re-situated and felt.
The New Contemporaries exhibition at MIMA is on until 16 August 2026.
Image: Alia Gargum, this was a mosque / هذا كان مسجد, New Contemporaries 2026. Photo: Rachel Deakin
