‘Fragility and Resilience’: Ayesha Sultana's first comprehensive solo in the GCC
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The pauses that Ayesha Sultana takes during a conversation are just as significant as the works she creates. These brief silences offer opportune moments for the viewer or listener to understand the workings of the artist’s mind, and to soak in the conceptual subtlety of the abstract works that she creates.
The Bangladesh-born, US-based artist has emerged as a major voice in the contemporary arts ecosystem in the Global South. She has exhibited in India with galleries such as Experimenter and is a member of the artist-run collective, Britto Arts Trust, in Dhaka. Sultana is now showing at her first comprehensive solo exhibition in the GCC, or the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Her show, Fragility and Resilience, is on view at the Ishara Art Foundation, Dubai, till 7 December. It features a range of works, including her first-ever hand-blown glass sculptures, oil paintings and watercolours on Japanese silk tissue. “Sultana’s work delves into themes of ecological, social, and personal upheaval, challenging the conventional binaries between fragility and resilience," states the exhibition note.
And indeed, the title of the exhibition offers an insight into the multiple series such as The Blue of Distance, Breath Count, Nightfall, Pools, Threshold and Inhabiting our Bodies—each suggesting the experiences of vulnerabilities and strength. The viewer is greeted with Sultana’s hand-blown glass sculptures, Pools, as soon as one walks into the large white space of Ishara Foundation. The frail skin of the glass does not compromise its ability to remain firm.
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