Ayesha Sultana, Miasms, 2024 Ink on tissue paper 31 x 11 1/2 in 78.7 x 29.2 cm (AS0320) Courtesy the artist and Experimenter
"On its one-year milestone, JCA presented Ayesha Sultana’s acclaimed solo exhibition Fragility and Resilience in collaboration with the Ishara Art Foundation and supported by Experimenter, reimagined for Jaipur, alongside the Sculpture Park’s sixth edition at Jaigarh Fort in partnership with Saath Saath Arts, reinforcing its role as a catalyst for contemporary art in India.
Continuing a Dialogue Across Borders
Fragility and Resilience was first shown at the Ishara Art Foundation in Dubai in 2024, conceived by Sabih Ahmed, Projects Advisor at Ishara, during his previous tenure as Director. It marked Ayesha Sultana’s first comprehensive solo exhibition in the Gulf. Now presented in Jaipur in collaboration with the Ishara Art Foundation, with support from Experimenter, the show has been reimagined for its new setting at JCA.
The exhibition explores the delicate balance between vulnerability and strength, suggesting that fragility itself can be a form of resilience. This theme resonates against the backdrop of social, ecological, and personal upheavals that continually test the limits of sustainability in the 21st century.
Ayesha Sultana, Breath Count 53, 2024 Clay-coated paper Suite of 4 11 x 8 1/2 in each 27.9 x 21.6 cm each (AS0380) Courtesy the artist and Experimenter
Sultana’s wide-ranging practice is reflected through a variety of works, including her first-ever hand-blown glass sculptures, oil paintings, watercolors on Japanese silk tissue, works on clay-coated paper, and photographic explorations. At JCA, the exhibition shifts the dialogue between works in the historical building and across new publics. Visitors will encounter the duality of glass as both fragile and enduring; the Breath Count series, where marks inscribed on clay-coated paper record time through the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation; the Threshold photographs, which juxtapose the artist’s father’s images with her own, scratched and solarized to reflect memory and erasure; and the tissue-based works of Miasms and Inhabiting Our Bodies, which evoke both the turbulence of the sea and the delicateness of skin. Together, these works underscore Sultana’s sensitivity to materials and her interest in how fragility and resilience coexist. In Jaipur, the exhibition continues its journey, opening up a fresh context for audiences to engage with these ideas.
Ayesha Sultana, 16:45, 16:50, 16:55, 17:00, 2024 Oil on canvas Suite of 4 18 x 15 in each 45.7 x 38.1 cm each (AS0279) Courtesy the artist and Experimenter
The Sculpture Park at Jaigarh Fort
The sixth edition of The Sculpture Park, and the second since its relocation to Jaigarh Fort, continues to be one of India’s most significant platforms for contemporary sculpture. Presented in partnership with Saath Saath Arts, the forthcoming edition reaffirms JCA’s role in supporting both emerging and established artists. The exhibition will open on 9 November 2025.
Through its anniversary program, JCA affirms its role as a site of exchange, where exhibitions travel, transform, and find new audiences. By presenting Fragility and Resilience in dialogue with The Sculpture Park, JCA celebrates not only its own milestone but also the larger culture of collaboration and shared curation shaping contemporary art today.
About Ayesha Sultana
Ayesha Sultana (b. 1984, Jashore, Bangladesh) lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Her practice spans drawing, painting, and sculpture, exploring the material and conceptual possibilities of form and medium. She studied at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, completing a BFA in 2007 and a postgraduate diploma in Art Education in 2008, and later taught there.
Sultana has exhibited widely, including at the Ishara Art Foundation (2024), the Dhaka Art Summit (2014, 2023), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2022), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (2020), Art Basel (2019), the Asia Pacific Triennial, Queensland (2018), Lahore Biennale (2018), and the Gwangju Biennale (2016). Her work has also been shown at the Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai; Queens Museum, New York.
Her works are held in major institutional collections such as SFMOMA (San Francisco), Tate Modern (London), Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (New Delhi), Samdani Art Foundation (Dhaka), X Museum (Beijing), Ishara Art Foundation (Dubai), and the Devi Art Foundation (New Delhi)."
Ayesha Sultana’s solo exhibition, Fragility and Resilience will be on view from 9 November 2025 to 4 January 2026 at Jaipur Centre for Art.
Date 6-11-2025