Ground Break Duty

2026Copper, concrete blocks, darkening patina, rebar, fishing nets, found objectsOverall dimensions: 30 × 30 metres; Copper floor: 18 × 18 metres; Rebar dhow: 5.4 × 22 × 4.05 metres

Nari Ward’s interdisciplinary practice transforms found materials into sculptural installations that explore memory, migration, community, and belonging. Ground Break Duty (2026) brings together copper, rebar, rope, fishing nets, and locally gathered found objects to reflect on Abu Dhabi’s history as a port city shaped by exchange and cultural encounter. Rising from a copper ground is the open framework of a dhow, a vessel long associated with movement, commerce, and connection across the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Throughout the installation, rebar and reclaimed materials evoke both construction and renewal, carrying traces of previous lives while entering new relationships. Ground Break Duty proposes that home, like the materials themselves, is continually shaped through encounter, repair, and exchange.

Artist's Biography

Nari Ward

New York, USA

Nari Ward’s interdisciplinary practice explores questions of race, migration, identity, community, and belonging through sculpture, installation, performance, and multimedia. Best known for transforming found objects collected in his longtime neighbourhood of Harlem, New York, he recontextualises everyday materials to reveal layered social, spiritual, and historical meanings. His assemblages invite multiple interpretations, encouraging reflection on collective experience and memory while foregrounding overlooked histories and community resilience. Through collection and transformation, Ward reveals the extraordinary potential of ordinary materials. Ward’s recent exhibitions include Ground Break at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2024); Prayer for the Living at Galleria Continua, Dubai (2023); Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023); NGV Triennial, Melbourne (2020); and Nari Ward: We the People at New Museum, New York (2019). Ward earned a BA from Hunter College (1991) and an MFA from Brooklyn College (1992). He received the Alain Locke Award (2024), was elected a National Academician (2022), and received the Vilcek Prize in Fine Arts (2017).

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