A partitioned temple stands and floats in the Renaissance Society. Cradled in a cavernous space, wood beams jut out high, adorned in swathes of neutral coppers and grays. Dala Nasser’s Adonis River invites and shelters those who visit under its luminous canopy.

Installation view of Dala Nasser, Adonis River, 2023. Photo by Bob.

Nasser’s behemoth is two-fold: one half an arrangement of classical doric orders and the latter, an undulating awning. The installation’s skeleton is a modular construction of unvarnished wood. Ceremoniously draped, mottled tarp, linens and lace encompass the structures. Embodying slabs of rock, the long planes of hanging fabric appear impenetrable and safe. Nasser offers you a haven.  

A material and process-based artist, Nasser marked large sheets of cloth in the cave opening of Lebanon’s Nahr Ibrahim river. As local legend foretold, this was where Adonis, Aphrodite’s lover, was slain. Soaking textiles directly into iron oxide rich waters, the bright pigment bleeds into the fibers, reminiscent of Adonis’ life essence itself. Nasser essentially imbues the cave’s collective memory onto her medium by creating meticulous rubbings on various rock surfaces. Revering the earth as a “literal material,” Nasser invites it as “witness to the historical shifts in territory.” Making the cave an active participant, the rubbings and clinging sediment pay homage to the cave’s sentience. Shifting through and around Adonis River’s hulking frame, your deference feels required.

A sonorous clang pierces the still air, striking a moment of alarm. The Ren becomes an echo chamber, cloaking viewers in a recorded soundscape of the cave itself. A mourning prayer by Mhamad Safa emerges, suffusing poignance through the initial tension. Recorded 40 times, Safa’s prayers follow the tenets of mourning. His melancholic voice reverberates off the Ren’s high ceilings, just as they did in the cave. Slowing into a rich baritone, the echoes are profoundly arresting. In this deep timbre, a primordial entity is present. The cave now speaks to you.

For Nasser’s first US exhibition, Adonis River envelops viewers on a scale unprecedented in her career. I was left awash with its living memory. Nasser offers passage to distant places, for a reckoning of the suffering steeped in cave walls. In holding space for memory in lands fraught with anguish not far from the cave, sorrow becomes a material in itself. In a ritualistic manner, Nasser invokes an all encompassing spirit. The Nahr Ibrahim cave bears witness to you, urging you to bear witness to it.

Natalia Granquist