Fragile State: Works by Fawzia Khan
Redacted, handwoven cotton and novelty yarn, 56” x 31.5”, 2025
January 8 – February 14, 2026
On View: January 8 – February 14 (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays 12:00 - 6:00 pm)
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 11, 2–5pm
Artist’s Talk: Sunday, January 18, 2pm
As a multidisciplinary artist my work is best described as social commentary, examining issues that reveal humanity’s frailties and foibles, to engage viewers in reflection and to open space for dialogue. This body of work combines weaving, embroidery and text to illuminate the current fragile state of our country and our democracy. The populace suffers while political players manipulate information, sowing distortion, confusion and polarization.
Weavings contain lacunae, large open areas, alluding to the disintegration of institutions and disappearance of documents. A piece titled Lesson Learned asks viewers to write a repeated line on a blackboard, “There are no principles, only interests,” reminiscent of punishment for bad behavior in school. The imagery and text in a cross-stitched sampler reflect our society’s polarization. I use color as a symbol, selected for its meaning: black and white for text; rainbow colored warp representing marginalized populations; red and blue for the two major US political parties. Two jainamaaz (prayer rugs) offer reminders on how to resist polarizing forces.
Producing the work presented in this show, woven, embroidered and written, required my concentration, attention to detail and sometimes repair or reworking, much as sustaining a democracy requires engaged participation and persistence to meet one another “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing. . .” (Rumi).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
FAWZIA KHAN is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Hopkins, Minnesota. Born in Lagos, Nigeria to Pakistani parents, she emigrated to the U.S. at the age of twelve. A former obstetrician/gynecologist, she left medicine to raise a family. She returned to Minnesota State University Moorhead to study art, graduating with a BFA in 2005 from the University of Minnesota.
Khan received Minnesota State Arts Board grants in 2020 and 2024, and was a 2022 and 2025 McKnight Fiber Artist Fellowship finalist. Her work is included in many private collections as well as the collections of The Warehouse, Milwaukee, WI, the city of Hopkins, MN, the Donald M. Fraser Early Childhood Development Center, Minneapolis, MN, the Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center, Minneapolis, MN, and the Loppet Foundation, Minneapolis, MN. She is one of the featured artists on the Twin Cities Public Television program MNOriginal.
Khan is an active member of two national multiethnic artist collectives, the Habibtis and the Paglees, and the Interfaith Artists Circle in the Twin Cities. She has been a juror for the Minnesota State Fair Arts Competition and served to develop a public art program in Hopkins, MN. She joined Form + Content Gallery in July 2024.