FRAGILITY
Sara Shahak
Israel

Between a glass bell and an iron pendant, a material tension arises that embodies fragility as an existential condition. The glass bell, functioning as a greenhouse, seeks to protect and preserve, yet it exposes the limits of protection and the vulnerability inherent in the very act of preservation.
The pendant, made of iron sourced from industrial bells, creates an unexpected encounter between two worlds of the “bell”, glass versus metal.
Its thorny structure projects strength and inaccessibility, yet the slow rusting reveals its hidden vulnerability. This contrast raises a question: does strength truly signify endurance, or is it merely a thin shell concealing fear and exposure? And what are thorns in nature, if not a survival mechanisms that conceal softness within?
Strength falters, and the paradox becomes clear: the guarding vessel is delicate and fragile, while the pendant appears tough yet is in a stage of weakening. This reveals a shared truth that the impulse to protect, to preserve, and the need to build a wall of thorns, is itself a testament to the fear of breaking and to the deep recognition that fracture may occur.

Necklace « I am hiding », 2025
170X170X170 mm / 930 gr
Readymade Glass bell, Iron, Brass, 12K Gold-filled chain, miniature Glass balls, Glass paints, Rust
Sowing, cutting, melting, shaping, soldering, painting, gluing, polishing, rusting
Photo : Shlomi Bernthal

More « FRAGILITY »

Fragility – Ute van der Plaats / Belgium

FRAGILITYUte van der PlaatsBelgiumMy mother was born as a Berglanddeutsche, a German-speaking minority living in the Banat, a region that belongs to Romania since the end of the First World War. In 1944 the family fled from the Russian invasion to Germany. I never got...

Fragility – Noa Yankovitch / Israel

FRAGILITYNoa YankovitchIsraelMy work examines the tension between closeness and distance, the fragile space where connection and separation coexist. I'm interested in how intimacy changes shape when it’s tested: when presence becomes absence, when touch turns into...

Fragility – Malene Kastalje / Denmark

FRAGILITYMalene KastaljeDenmarkIt was after the storm. I watched myself in the brown puddle of water. Unrecognizable. A cloud moved behind me. A bit of wind and the surface trembled, scattering my face and folding it into small, moving pieces. The ground was still...

Fragility – Gloria Tormo / Spain

FRAGILITYGloria TormoSpainThere is not one fragility, but countless ones. Emotional fragility, health fragility, knowledge fragility, integrity fragility, etc. Suddenly, one day, we discover that everything we believe to be strong and stable crumbles or disappears,...

Fragility – Juan Harnie / Belgium

FRAGILITYJuan HarnieBelgiumAs a child, I watched my mother repair our worn clothes. My small hands would clumsily try to help, threading needles or guiding the iron. These moments were never about perfection, but about connection. Each patch, each stitch was an act of...

Fragility – Patricia Gallucci / Argentina

FRAGILITYPatricia GallucciArgentinaHow do we move forward; how do we leave fear, memories, untold, everyday anxieties, if we are made out of them, if we keep them under our skin, if they are also part of today? When body and mind are one. Light is darkness Dream,...

Fragility – Sébastien Carré / France

FRAGILITYSébastien CarréFranceFragility of… The Cycle of Water From the melting of the poles, to changing the power of the gulfstream We are already starting to feel the impact of global warming with an increased power and frequency of rain and snowstorms.While...

Fragility – Brenda Schweder / USA

FRAGILITYBrenda SchwederUnited StatesPeople tip-toe around fragility like it’s a brittle, frail state of weakness that seeps from the outer skin of a thing and travels through and through to the core. But they don’t stop to look beneath the outer edges to what lie...

Fragility – Katerina Jirsova / Czech Republic

FRAGILITYKaterina JirsovaCzech RepublicThese necklaces continue my ongoing exploration of the dialogue between the body, the object, and the space we inhabit. Crafted from white chalk, they carry the qualities of softness, fragility, and impermanence – a material that...

Fragility – Beatrice Carlson / New Zealand

FRAGILITYBeatrice CarlsonNew ZealandHow do we refer to Fragility and how do we feel about it in our, somehow, judgemental, competitive society? Looking at synonyms, there is nothing positive about it: delicate, brittle, frail, weak, tenuous. Fragility is what some...