Torkwase Dyson unveils her monumental sculpture Nia at Art Basel Qatar 2026. Digital rendering of Nia, 2026. Steel, graphite, paint, and wood. Overall dimensions are variable. Each sculpture: 284.5 × 572.1 × 61.3 cm (112 × 225 ¼ × 24⅛ inches).

Experience Nia by Torkwase Dyson at Art Basel Qatar, a monumental sculpture engaging viewers with space, history, and liberation.

BY ALEX TOWNASTALLI, ARTCENTRON

DOHA, Qatar—Contemporary artist Torkwase Dyson will unveil her monumental sculpture Nia at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar, running February 5–7, 2026, at M7, Msheireb Downtown. The steel-and-wood work, part of Dyson’s Memory Horizon series, explores spatial liberation and historical memory through curved and vertical forms. The gallery representing Dyson, GRAY, will feature the piece alongside other major contemporary artists, including Alexander Calder and Theaster Gates.

Monumental Sculpture Explores Space and Memory

Nia, which translates to “purpose” in Swahili, consists of two identical sculptural components hand-coated with graphite. The work balances sweeping arcs with sharp vertical passages, creating an immersive, architectural environment. Dyson describes the piece as a meditation on “thresholds”—the liminal space between dispossession and the creation of liberatory spaces.

Throughout her career, Dyson examines histories of enslavement and the design of environments that shape access, movement, and freedom. Her sculptures, paintings, and sound-based works use geometric abstraction to interrogate architecture, infrastructure, and ecology. In Nia, viewers are invited to navigate the space in unconventional ways, engaging physically and intellectually with ideas of historical and spatial transformation.

About Torkwase Dyson

Born in 1973 in Chicago, Dyson lives and works in Beacon, New York. She studied sociology and social work at Tougaloo College before earning a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA from Yale School of Art. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Hall Art Foundation, and Serpentine Galleries. Group shows include the Liverpool Biennial, the Bienal de São Paulo, Desert X, and major U.S. museums such as MoMA, the Whitney, and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Dyson recently designed Superfine: Tailoring Black Style at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2025). Her immersive sculpture Akua is currently on view at Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York, through March 8, 2026. She is a commissioned artist for the 2026 59th Carnegie International and will present a solo exhibition at Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, in Fall 2026.

Art Basel Qatar 2026

GRAY will showcase Dyson’s Nia at Booth M303. The gallery also represents works by Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Jaume Plensa, Richard Serra, and Theaster Gates. Private viewings are available by appointment.