Transformed | Fawzia Khan

Khan highlights how this exploration must be embedded in community, a space that welcomes understanding, not judgment. Transformed is a series of loom-woven Jainamaaz (prayer rugs), inspired by her Muslim upbringing but updated to reflect her current humanist outlook. She recorded herself reciting words of wisdom from poetry and other writings, both ancient and contemporary, that explore the human condition, and are meaningful to her. She then wove the image of her voiceprint into each rug. The installation will include her audio recordings so viewers can see and feel her words. The meaning and origin of each reading guided her selection of colors and their transitions.

This body of work expresses the transformation Khan’s spirituality has undergone during her lifetime. “As a Pakistani Muslim girl born in Nigeria, I remember thinking, “Had I been born to different parents, I might have had a different ethnicity and followed a different religion. For me, religion explores spirituality. It looks for answers to the imponderable questions of existence, trying to explain the inexplicable, and providing comfort when life’s vicissitudes are overwhelming. In addition, it provides a moral framework for human interactions that emphasizes the inherent worth and dignity of every person. And lastly, it promotes community. However, when religion becomes dogmatic or exclusionary, it fails us.”

The weavings originate with the idea of the jainamaaz, or prayer rug, used by Muslims when they pray individually in their homes or elsewhere. Approximately 2 feet by 4 feet in dimensions, jainamaaz are used to delineate a sacred space that opens a portal to the holy. The head of the rug is oriented to face Mecca. When one is on the jainamaaz one is speaking directly to God. Khan’s “jainamaaz” have the very words that guide her on how to live a good and authentic life embedded in their design. The sources are varied, and while very personal, the thematic content is universal. “We share common life experiences such as friendship, love, loss, grief, aging and death. In today’s world, especially with the after-effects of the pandemic, burgeoning conflicts, and the racial divisiveness we are seeing, it is more important than ever that we can see ourselves in each other and focus on our common humanity. We must take care of each other and the planet we live on.”

During the exhibition Fawzia Khan will invite viewers to add their own words of wisdom on strips of fabric and weave them into the piece on a vertical loom. Weaving represents how we are all intertwined no matter who we are or where we come from.

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. An obstetrician/gynecologist, she gave up her medical practice after giving birth to become a mother and housewife. She returned to school to study art, graduating with a BFA in 2005  from the University of Minnesota. Khan creates socially conscious bodies of work that engage viewers, opening space for dialogue and reflection. Working in a variety of media, she uses art to examine societal conflicts. To see the “other’s” point of view acknowledges our shared humanity and creates the opportunity for understanding and resolution. Khan is an active member of two national multiethnic artist collectives, the Habibtis and the Paglees. She has served as a juror for the Minnesota State Fair Arts Competition and helped develop a public art program in Hopkins, MN. She curated her first exhibition Between the Stripes, Under the Stars at St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN in 2022. Khan received Minnesota State Arts Board grants in 2020 and 2024, and was a 2022 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.

A special thanks to the Weavers' Guild of Minnesota and Kory Lasker for designing the computer program that created the voiceprints. 

Fawzia Khan is a fiscal year 2024 recipient of a Creative Individuals Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Presented concurrently with Contain Me | Hend Al-Mansour.

Gallery Hours:
Thursday through Friday: 11 am to 6 pm
Saturday through Sunday: 11 am to 5 pm.