Fragility and Resilience: Ayesha Sultana’s exhibition by Ishara Art Foundation showcases the profound exploration of vulnerability and strength through the artistic lens of Ayesha Sultana. This thought-provoking exhibition, presented by the esteemed Ishara Art Foundation, delves into the delicate balance between fragility and resilience within the human experience. With meticulous attention to detail and a captivating artistic vision, Sultana’s works invite viewers to contemplate the complexities of our existence and the transformative power of resilience. Ayesha Sultana’s exploration of materiality cuts across the type of art she is known for. She uses a variety of techniques, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography, to create a visual language that depicts interior complexities and the weaknesses of exterior nature. Her practice is non-decorative yet critical for societal transformation and philosophical and existential facets, which rely on material exploration learning. The very integration of both form and concept in her work makes her a world-class artist.
Presented by the Ishara Art Foundation, “Fragility and Resilience” marks Ayesha Sultana’s first major solo exhibition in the GCC. The exhibition delves into the intricate balance between vulnerability and strength, reflecting on the condition of the planet in the 21st century. Sultana challenges the traditional binary view that separates fragility from resilience, suggesting that fragility itself can be a powerful form of strength, even as it embodies deep vulnerability. This theme resonates profoundly in today’s world, where ongoing social, ecological, and personal crises continually push the boundaries of sustainability.
Fragility as Power: Reconstructing Duality in Fragility and Resilience
The theme of fragility and resilience attempts to substantiate the fragility of the culture in question, striving to deconstruct such classifications and sympathies instead of interpreting culture as civilization—a polar notion. This philosophical inversion is evident from the exhibition’s very title. Instead of merely doing away with the strength to withstand much pressure and rigidity, I contend and urge contemporary society, through Sultana’s works, that one should welcome the concept of weakness in its dynamic state as a working strength. This is because the artwork’s attention rekindled the concern that the premise universally represents the balanced duality of fragility and resilience in the form of an artistic synthesis of complex ideas and natural conditions.
The family mallways are opened by the artist’s expository glass sculptures, which are the embodiment of fragility and resilience in a very physical and metaphorical sense. Glass-forming itself is an art that requires muscle, skill, and some careful handling. It is straightforward to think of being human in all its complexity and rough edges, like the cold and hot presses.” Papadopoulos offers The opening sculptures are made of glass, as if it were the main raw material in practice. With proper handling, a material can remain bent, or more accurately, altered, without breaking. Despite being filled with air, the composite form also contains a certain amount of flexibility. Sin describes how sculptures are placed. Because breathing is one of the strokes used to build these and other structures, life is fragile and brief. “Bessé and Van Putten.”.
Life’s Essence Created Out of Art: The Breath Count Series
The series called Breath Count is the most personal and tender of all of the exhibition’s components. Sultana is not only concerned with the thinness of glass, but he also delves into the complex and delicate psychology of human beings. Each stroke on the clay-coated paper is one breath for her, the breath that does not cross any of our minds in the common practices of a day. In this series, the audience is encouraged to think about the processes of breathing and its importance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Breath became prized, similar to how breath was dangerous during the pandemic because the virus was in the breath.
Sultana’s use of clay-coated paper adds more meaning. Clay, which belongs on Mother Earth, represents the earthly shape of that man as part of the entire eco-system, while paper coming from trees symbolizes the sweet but delicate bond between humanity and nature. The physicality of the artwork itself speaks to the overlying ideas of fragility and resilience, as the paper was a place where a mark of time was recorded through a simple act of life, which is done too often without consciousness.
The threshold series: memory, time, and loss
The Breath Count series tackles the issue of life and everything present in it on an immediate scale, while the Threshold series shifts the focus toward time, memories, and loss. Referring to the photographs made by her father during military service between the 1980s and 1990s, Sultana undertakes a time travel of sorts. The photographs are an account of history, but this historical essence that Sultana has also captured is marred by the visual interventions—solarization and scratching—that Sultana carries out on the images. The scratches represent the course of time and memory that has not only been erased, but also endured. They are signs of weakness, all brought about by time’s wrath.
The Threshold series touches viewers emotionally because it depicts loss and the artist’s memory of it. Humanity has an instinct to hold onto things as long as there is some remnant left of them, such as upholding a faded photograph. Therefore, Sultana’s art can also be seen as a reflection on death and the survivors’ memories. This kind of pain reinstates the notion that ultimately, no matter how much erasure is done, some parts of the past would still be there to give perspective into the present. This is like how time scars both the skin and the landscapes.
Transitory Objects: Tissue as a Reticence
Sultana’s dissolution of the boundaries of fragility in the Miasms series and Inhabiting Our Bodies art installation extends to the use of tissue. Tissue, which is soft and flimsy, is simple to tear and break down; hence the metaphor for mortality. However, she uses this weak element to demonstrate her strength as an artist. She makes tissue appear in a different light, supporting the notion that even what appears to be the most fragile of materials can withstand pressure.
The symbolic function of tissue use also sheds light on issues such as feminism, as well as more defining aspects such as the relationship with culture and perception of the body. The images embody the transience of human body tissues such as skin and fluids, with plenty of references to stains, blood, clots, and other aspects that are at once life-supporting and brittle. Sultana joins the rest of the voices in the discourse on the relevance of the body in modern art, particularly in feminism, which views body ownership as both vulnerable and aggressive.
The Artistic Process: Walking the Tightrope between Fragility and Resilience
For me, one of the challenging and intriguing elements in Fragility and Resilience has to be the incorporation of Sultana’s sketchbooks, notes and drawings, incomplete works, and other artifacts. To some extent, these items preserve the maker’s journey from the intricate fragility-resilience interaction framework. Creation entails a high level of fragility, with uncertainties, revised drafts, and attempts that do not bear fruit. However, it is from such fragility that resiliance is born. So that Sultana shows a propensity of ‘letting things go’ as well as ‘closing forms’—which again—if one applies them to any work or creation, it is not just limited to making a net end, but the creative process is still within a course of movement.
The unfinished video displayed in the exhibition is a particularly strong demonstration medium. It emphasizes that, like any other human endeavor, art concerns itself primarily with what is yet to be, but what is and continuously changes and morphs. This attitude towards incompletion is consistent with Sultana’s overarching reasoning on topics in the majority of her works, which stresses the fact that art is made up, tore, and made up again, where its delicateness is regarded not as something to counter but as something to welcome.
Ayesha Sultana’s body of work, built around the concepts of fragility and resilience, both touches the individual viewer and addresses broader social and environmental issues. She has a remarkable command of shame, memory, and nature, making her an important contemporary artist in relation to the re-conceptualization of fragility from a weakness to a strength.
The exhibition’s exploration of materiality, such as glass, tissue, and clay, provides a reasoned argument for the anxiety that all individuals feel amid encumbered tasks and exhaustion. Her works compel us to think of fragility in its various forms, not in light of how it is considered the opposite of strength, but as an aspect that enables objects and people to withstand pressure and adverse issues. This message couldn’t be more appropriate in a time of increasing sociocultural, ecological, and individual turmoil.
Sultana blends personal narratives, collective memory, and material application to create a story that is elegantly personal yet very relatable. She offers a full-bodied exploration of the human condition and, within it, the potential for wastage and destruction, which quite often cuts through and reveals the strength that, and here is the heart of every creation.
About Ayesha Sultana
Ayesha Sultana (b. 1984) is an artist originally from Jashore, Bangladesh, who currently lives and works in Lilburn, Georgia, USA. Her diverse artistic practice encompasses drawing, painting, and sculpture, with a focus on exploring the material and conceptual boundaries of form and medium. Sultana earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in 2007, followed by a post-graduate diploma in Art Education in 2008 from Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, where she later taught for two years. She is also an active member of the Britto Arts Trust, an artist-run organization based in Dhaka.
Sultana’s work has been showcased in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Highlights include the Dhaka Art Summit (2014 and 2023); ‘Artist’s Rooms’ at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai (2022); ‘Shifting the Silence’ at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (2022); ‘Making Visible’ at Experimenter, Mumbai (2022, 2017); ‘Bare Bones’ at Experimenter, Kolkata (2021); ‘Line, Beats and Shadows’ at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi (2020); and Art Basel (2019). She has also participated in significant international exhibitions, including the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9) in Queensland (2018), the inaugural Lahore Biennale (2018), and the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016).
Her work has appeared in group exhibitions at notable venues such as On Site, New Delhi; Queens Museum, New York; Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai; Leila Heller Gallery, New York; and Athr Gallery, Jeddah. Additionally, her pieces have been acquired by prestigious institutions like SFMOMA, San Francisco; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; X Museum, Beijing; and the Samdani Art Foundation.
About Ishara Art Foundation
Established in 2019, Ishara Art Foundation is a Dubai-based non-profit dedicated to promoting contemporary South Asian art. The foundation nurtures both emerging talents and established artists, encouraging critical conversations and exploring global artistic connections. Driven by a strong research focus, Ishara brings its vision to life through exhibitions, educational programs, and partnerships, both locally and internationally. By creating a platform for collaboration, the foundation connects South Asian art with a broader global audience, fostering exchanges among museums, institutions, galleries, and individual creatives worldwide.
About Alserkal Avenue
Founded in 2008 by Alserkal Initiatives, Alserkal Avenue is the brainchild of visionary Emirati businessman and cultural patron Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal. His ambition was to create a thriving hub for artistic expression and cultural innovation in Dubai. Nestled in the industrial heart of Al Quoz, the Avenue has blossomed into a dynamic cultural district, home to over 70 contemporary art galleries, performing arts organizations, designers, and entrepreneurial ventures. This vibrant community space serves as a creative playground for Dubai’s boldest thinkers and makers, offering a platform where art, culture, and ideas converge. With its year-round programming, Alserkal Avenue has become a premier destination for local, regional, and global audiences, delivering immersive cultural experiences and championing the region’s artistic evolution.
Dates: 6th September – 7th December 2024
Venue: Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai
