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‘Fragility and Resilience’: Ayesha Sultana's first comprehensive solo in the GCC
Summary
Ayesha Sultana’s first comprehensive solo in the Gulf Cooperation Council explores the interplay between fragility and strength in the modern world
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. Arranged on a white elevated platform, at first sight the transparent glass sculptures appear to be melting. As one moves closer, the variable shapes and sizes are more like a water blob or hollow globule of air.
This act of breathing, which powers Pools, is also extended to the series Breath Count. The divergent vertical lines and maze of dots, when seen scratched onto the clay-coated paper, give the impression of being the artist’s intimate diary. They appear to be documentations of Sultana’s flow of breaths. The series was initiated a year before the onset of the global covid-19 pandemic. The ability to archive trough and crest of breathing patterns becomes a performative act.
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Breath Count is interspersed with the Threshold series to memorialise her father’s death in 2008. The fragility of a human life is underscored as one stops breathing. The photographs stand synonymous with the notion of immortalising the moment lived and experienced. When Sultana solarises and scratches a body of photographs taken by her father in the 1980s and 1990s during his assignments as an officer of the Bangladesh Air Force in South Asia, the GCC and the US, she conjures an aura of feebleness. Additionally, as a part of the series, the images made by Sultana hint at the resilience that grows slowly after a passing of a parent. The tainted marks and visible scratches debunk the glory of permanency frozen within the composition of a photograph of cities and landscape.
The ubiquitous textures and layers seen in the series stem from an engagement with the tactile world and the landscapes she has lived in. “Layers signify time, memory and materiality. Different texture holds a trace of its origin, whether from natural sources or human-made environments. I think it holds the potential to evoke a sensory and emotional resonance through the work," says Sultana. Artworks produced from tissues in the series, Miasms and Inhabiting Our Bodies, beckon you closer with their contrasting qualities—a sense of tenderness combined with the bold colours of midnight blues, scarlet and tangerine. The medium of tissue simulates the (in) consistency of skin. It also highlights fragility and resilience at the same time. Against the backdrop of blue pigments, the blots of reds and oranges are reminiscent of the menstrual blood that a woman experiences at different stages of her life.
The materials she uses—paper, graphite, glass, metal, or found objects—carry their own histories and tactility. Sometimes the concept is integral to the material choice—its inherent properties, such as texture, composition, weight, and malleability can shape the various forms and meaning of the work. “The element of ambivalence in materials is sometimes intentional, but often coming from a place of curiosity and play. I strive to create works where the material and process are not immediately apparent, allowing the viewers to pause and reflect," says Sultana.
Throughout the exhibition, one can see a display of Sultana’s sketchbooks, diaries, artworks in progress and an unfinished video. These offer a physical extension of the raw emotions running through the mind of the artist. This display leads to the final works in the main gallery space. “Over the years, my practice has become more process-driven, with an increasing focus on material exploration. Initially, my works were more representational, but now they lean toward abstraction, where subtle gestures hold meaning, allowing intuition to guide my creative process," says Sultana about her first comprehensive solo show.
Dilpreet Bhullar is an editor-writer based in New Delhi.
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