Ramzi Mallat

And that’s a wrap! Thank you to everyone that came to see Atlas of An Entangled Gaze in the Arab Hall at Leighton House ().

What an incredible opportunity it has been to contribute to the layered history of this iconic space during such a hallmark moment as the museum’s centennial. And what a special way to mark my first institutional commission in the U.K, this is definitely one for the books!

A special thanks to the stellar museum team, passionate volunteers, and amazing studio assistants, you know who you are. I truly could not have made this vision come to life without all your efforts and dedication.

Here’s to another 100 years and many more site-specific interventions in the Arab Hall!

© Ramzi Mallat.

Atlas of An Entangled Gaze (2026) is on view at Leighton House Museum’s ()Arab Hall until 14 May.

This major site-specific installation marks the artist’s first institutional commission in the United Kingdom, while launching the museum’s centennial programme.

The installation transforms the historic interior with a suspended canopy of thousands of luminous blue ceramic ‘eyes’, weaving together Levantine folklore, Islamic craft traditions, and the space’s architectural language to create a contemporary meditation on perception, protection, and cultural transmission.

Images courtesy of the artist.
© Ramzi Mallat.

Not Your Martyr (2023) stages an intervention against the erasure of traumatic histories by state powers, and contests the culture of performative resilience, which often substitutes forgetting for healing.

Through this title, the artist urges us to resist the ritualistic impulse—deeply ingrained in SWANA cultures—of turning victims into martyrs at the risk of silencing their humanity beneath the weight of symbolic sacrifice, and dulling public outrage at the injustice of their loss.

Mallat places Levantine heritage on the global stage at a moment of deliberate and urgent significance, confronting a moment of critical historical reflection.

The display will be showcased at the V&A Museum () until 19 October 2025.

Images: Ramzi Mallat, Not Your Martyr, 2023. Glass, 144 x 144 x 33 cm. LDF 2025 at V&A South Kensington, London.

Courtesy Peter Kelleher and the V&A South
Kensington.

Ramzi Mallat

Honored to announce that my work “Not Your Martyr” (2023) will be exhibited at the V&A South Kensington () as part of the London Design Festival ().

Curated by Rachel Dedman (), the V&A’s Jameel Curator of Contemporary Art from the Middle East, the work will be on display in the Medieval and Renaissance Gallery from 13 September until 19 October 2025.

Not Your Martyr is a commemorative memorial created in honor of the victims
of the 4th August 2020 Beirut Port blast which claimed over 250 lives, displaced thousands, and devastated the city.

This opportunity carries profound personal meaning. It comes just after the fifth anniversary of the August 4th Beirut explosion, and in the same year that marked 50 years since the Lebanese Civil War began. These anniversaries remind me of the fragility of memory, the necessity of culture, and the responsibility we hold as artists to carry narratives forward with both compassion and a conviction.

To be given a platform of such international significance, and to stand alongside other artistic voices from the Levant which I deeply admire, is both humbling and thrilling. I am deeply grateful to be part of this dialogue where heritage, design, and lived experience converge to foster critical responses to crisis and urgent issues.

“Not Your Martyr” is shown alongside an installation by Lebanese artists Rana Haddad () and Pascal Hachem () entitled “Debris of Text and Eyeglasses”, in a display titled ‘Counter-Monuments, Beirut’.

The display is supported by LDF and the V&A’s Jameel Programme.