about
Alia Gargum is a British-Libyan artist based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. She composes her work through critical and personal exploration of politics and culture, focusing on her heritage through diasporic means.
Sculpture, paintings and installation elements are reorganised and transformed in an organic manner as part of the artistic process. Alia primarily uses hand-treated steel and hand-manipulated paper to depict signifiers of her past through a contemporary lens.
Alia’s work explores power dynamics that echo into personal relationships, with a focus on the history of Middle Eastern and North African region power structures. Themes of forced migration, exile and identity also converge her works.
Portrait by Ellen Dixon on behalf of QJC Awards, Exhibition, Press
Middlesbrough Art Week, 2024, Middlesbrough, UK
Featured artist within the annual show by The Auxiliary group, hosted in gallery spaces across Middlesbrough. Featured in interview with the BBC 's "Look North" programme and led/organised a community food practice as art practice workshop.
The Hatton Prize, 2024, Newcastle, UK
Prize for outstanding ambition in the installation of the Newcastle University MFA Graduate show, awarded by The Newcastle School of Fine Art.
'Pipelines' MFA degree show, 2024, Newcastle University and Hatton Gallery, UK
Featured artist within the annual summer show of Newcastle University’s post-graduate artists, displayed throughout the Fine Art studios and The Hatton Gallery.
Lost Signal', 2024 Newcastle University and Hatton Gallery
Curator and featured artist in two exhibitions as part of Brink Collective, spurred by a rift in transmission, this exhibition presents the artists’ work as a reminder of the remoteness and isolation that can so easily accompany digital communication.
'Open Submission', 2024 Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
Featured sculpture work within exhibition presenting over 100 artworks from North East based hobbyists and self-taught creatives, alongside several works by established artists drawn from over 1400 submissions. In association with Fenwick
'Belonging' (in partnership with D6), 2024 Goethe-Institut, Cyprus
Selected as a featured artist of 5 by curator Shirin Zeraaty to exhibit artworks from the original virtual exhibition.
'Outside Our View', Highbridge Works, Newcastle, UK
Featured artist in exhibition dedicated to raising awareness and in support of the people of Palestine enduring ongoing catastrophic warfare.
Do You Believe in Here', 2023, Newcastle, UK
Curator, project manager and featured artist with Brink Collective and selected undergraduate Newcastle Fine Art students.
'Rough Draft presents: Beyond', 2023, Newcastle, UK
Featured artist alongside other MFA artists at Newcastle University
'Belonging' (in partnership with D6), 2023
Featured artist alongside other artists whose practice has been disrupted by forced migration within a virtual exhibition.
'Counterpart' MFA degree show, 2023, Newcastle, UK
Featured artist within the annual summer show of Newcastle University’s post-graduate artists, displayed throughout the Fine Art studios and The Hatton Gallery.