We are in a state of global turmoil. In the last few years alone, we’ve reached the precipice of multiple crises: late-stage capitalism is at its breaking point, we’re hurdling towards a climate that is too warm for the species and a series of large-scale wars have broken out across the globe, leaving millions without homes. Opening at The Bomb Factory’s Marylebone Gallery, Fragile: A Collective Exhibition reminds us that creativity is perhaps the most powerful tool we have for responding to this era of uncertainty.
Curated by performance artist and activist Daniel Lismore and sponsored by the Tsukanov Family Foundation – which supports persecuted, displaced and exiled artists – the exhibition features 20 artists in a radical expression of how creativity helps us overcome human suffering, providing a space for vulnerability and compassion. It is an odyssey through fragility and pain, hope and resilience.
Among the artists showcased is Nadya Tolokonnikova, the creator of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, whose anti-Putin performance piece Punk Prayer landed her in jail in 2012, while her 2023 solo art instillation, Putin’s Ashes, kicked off a new legal battle and saw her make Russia’s most wanted criminals list. Tolokonnikova is showing two series in the exhibition: Icons, which reflects on pain, resilience, utopia and patriotism; and New Dark Ages, which fuses religious iconography with her usual commentary on these themes.
Icons series by Nadya Tolokonnikova
Kostya Benkovich – who fled Russia after his anti-war stance garnered negative attention – is presenting Suitcase, an installation that symbolises the displacement and homelessness that marks the lives of those impacted by war and catastrophe. The piece is inspired by conversation he had with an unknown woman fleeing Ukraine in March 2022, where she told him, ‘My suitcase is all I have remaining of my former life’. These words, and the sentiment that accompanies them, form the basis of his installation.
The Suitcase by Kostya Benkovich
In solidarity with these artists, Joe Corré, son of Dame Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, is showcasing a glass coffin with his father’s death mask and the ashes of six million pounds worth of punk memorabilia that he burned to condemn the commodification of counterculture and climate inaction in 2016. The instillation, Burn Punk (Ash from Chaos), is featured alongside the original footage and audio from Corré’s 2016 protest, marking the latest episode in his long history of political activism.
Ash from Chaos (Burn Punk) by Joe Corré
Speaking on the collection, Lismore says, “Art has been the answer transforming pain into purpose and serving as a bridge to something greater. Every artist in this exhibition brings forth a piece of that transformative power. Together, these works create a powerful conversation, inviting us all into a deeper shared experience in a call for empathy, resilience and a commitment to compassion.”
Featuring the work of other artists like Leila Bartel, Ian Brennan and Jake Chapman, Fragile: A Collective Exhibition recognises the value of art as activism and reminds us that, sometimes, it requires our protection in environments that seek to take expression away from us. It is open at The Bomb Factory from November 22 to December 2.
Daniel Lismore, curator of Fragile: A Collective Exhibition, photographed by Colin Douglas Gray