Fragile State

Banner image: We the People, 2026. Handwoven cotton and wool tapestry. Courtesy of the artist. 

A Note From the Editor:

Sometimes I wonder about the relevance or role of art in a world that is slowly but surely cutting funding and closing galleries left, right, and center. When tragedy strikes, I find that artists and the art we create in community are one of the few things holding us together. Many artists have done the heavy lifting of sharing their work as a means of protest and resistance. In line with our mission in fostering a sustainable arts community, here are some ways you can help support those affected by ICE through the voice of our Minneapolis artists:

Pick up posters from Back of Beyond Press and Bench Pressed and raise money for mutual aid with Bench Pressed T-shirts and hclou tattoos Canmn Flash Tattoo. Get even more T-shirts and tote bags (also raising money for mutual aid) from BRLSQ, Alondra M Garza.

This week, we look to Fawzia Khan's solo show, Fragile State, as a reminder that even in trying times, visual art has a knack for healing. -Laura

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To walk through Fawzia Khan’s solo exhibit “Fragile State” is to experience a kind of existential vertigo. On the walls of the Form + Content Gallery in North Loop Minneapolis, textiles weave together the frayed fabric of American democracy. What may look like a solid block of color from one angle emerges as an intricate pattern from another. 

This optical illusion in her piece “Variations on a Theme” reflects a country that can no longer agree on what it is seeing — where the “truth” often depends on where you stand. 

 

Variations on a Theme, 2026. L to R: Black, Red and Blue. Courtesy of Myah Goff

 

The exhibit arrives at a moment of profound grief in the Twin Cities. Since December, federal immigration enforcement has swept through the Twin Cities under “Operation Metro Surge.” The community reached a breaking point on Jan. 7, when an ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old poet and mother Renee Good in south Minneapolis. 

Videos of the shooting have circulated widely, but depending on who you ask, the footage can tell a completely different story. “Some people are convinced she was not going to run him over and he just shot her,” Khan said. “And other people are equally convinced that he was justified in shooting her because she was going to run him over.”

It’s difficult to walk into a gallery today without carrying the weight of morning headlines. But Khan doesn’t ask you to leave your grievances at the door. She meets you there, drawing on her medical and artistic background to dissect the anatomy of disagreement. “I wanted to talk about the polarization in our society,” Khan said. “We all kind of want the same thing for the most part, but we have such different ways of going about it.”

Her critique grows more pointed in a cross-stitch sampler framed with red and blue patriotic threads. Here, Khan embroiders a cynical twist of the “Three Wise Monkeys” proverb: “See No Contradictions, Hear No Facts, Speak Your Truth.” 

 

Sampler, 2026. Hand embroidered cross-stitch on cotton. Courtesy of the artist. 

 

While the top of the piece is meticulous and orderly, the bottom edge breaks open — a visual representation of how rigid social and political structures can unravel under pressure. At the center, two groups are frozen in a permanent argument, unable to hear anything but their own convictions.

“When you look at both sides kind of screaming at each other, they start seeing the other person as the enemy instead of talking about why they believe something or feel a certain way,” Khan said. “You ignore the facts you don’t believe in and you accept the facts that align with your world view.”

Khan suggests that this dissonance is fueled by an algorithmic echo chamber, where the interests of tech leaders and politicians are maintained by keeping the public in a state of perpetual, profitable conflict. In “Lesson Learned,” she invites visitors to repeatedly write the phrase: “There are no principles, only interests” on a blackboard. 

 

Lesson Learned, 2026, Masonite, chalkboard paint, paint, chalk, wood, eraser. Courtesy of Myah Goff. 

 

“My husband has been quoting this to me for 35 years,” Khan said. “Everytime I get frustrated with a politician — ‘Why are they doing that when they say they’re about this?’ — he says ‘because there are no principles, only interests.’”

Amid the grief surrounding Good’s death and ongoing ICE operations, Khan resists total pessimism. In “The Broken Truth,” inspired by Douglas Wood’s children’s book “Old Turtle and the Broken Truth,” she humanizes the “other” — whoever that may be for the viewer. The piece features a recording of the line: “You are loved and so are they.”

 

The Broken Truth, 2024. Handwoven wool and cotton, audio recording. Courtesy of Myah Goff. 

 

“I think that we need voices of calm and reason to talk about things and find common ground,” Khan said, asking viewers to recognize our shared humanity as a starting point.

Khan’s perspective is shaped by a life lived between two worlds. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, she moved to the U.S. at age 12 and spent her earlier years practicing medicine before pivoting to art at age 35. Her internal tug-of-war emerges across the exhibit. Works from 2024 carry the hope of building bridges through understanding, as seen in her loom-woven prayer rug “Open Mindedness.” Beside the rug, an audio recording features 13th-century poet Rumi’s words: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

Her 2026 works bear the fatigue of someone who is watching the American democracy fracture, revealing cracks that were always there. “Fragile State” feels less like revelation and more like remembering something we once knew, lost track of, and are being asked to sit with again. 

Stepping out of the gallery and back onto the streets of Minneapolis, protests continue, ICE operations press on and division persists. But Khan’s work resists the urge to simplify what was never simple to begin with and reminds us that compassion is more urgent than ever.◼︎ 

 

Fragile State is on view at Form+Content Gallery up through February 14th. Follow Fawzia Khan on Instagram at @fawziakhanart and see more work on her website fawziakhanart.com.