Fish Meets Grill

VM Art Gallery, Rangoonwalla Community Centre, Karachi, 2021

Fish Meets Grill, screened at V.M. Art Gallery, ZVMG Rangoonwala Community Centre
“Seized” materials: 
Oak-wood bark, plywood, waterproof nylon, PVC, jersey, sequined cloth and metal, 12 x 8 ft.
Trident Harpoon and Piercing Harpoon:  Rope, wood and metal made with fishermen in Lyari. Multiple Sizes.
Bone-ing, Slicing and Dissecting Harpoons;  Sawing Harpoon and Hook Harpoon
Rope, wood and metal made with fishermen in Lyari. Multiple Sizes.
Life After Dura-Europos, Oil on Wood, 42 x 32 inches.  
A Sea-Lord and his Prisioner, Oil on Wood, 42 x 32 inches

T-Scales installation for ‘Fish Meets Grill’, 2021
Oil on Teak Wood, 34’’ & 44’
T-Scales, Oil on Teak Wood, 34’x 44’


In 2012, a whale shark was caught off Karachi’s harbour. The bizarre and theatrical footage of it being hauled up by cranes readying it for auction by local fishermen is available on YouTube if you search for ‘whale shark Karachi’. 
As a child I was under the naive impression that whales were far too mythical and serenely beautiful to ever bother swimming towards my city’s murky grey coast. I briefly remember reeling from the nausea of finally seeing the dead fish on the news and I started to hallucinate on the whale’s stench every time we drove near the beach in Clifton. These imaginary smells and transient memories made me think about how our city would react if an actual mermaid - the most hyper-fantasised creature of the underwater world - were to be found on our beaches? What would those series of accounts look like? 

The title, ‘Fish Meets Grill’ refers to a recipe as an anecdote for the ultimate fate of creatures cooked to reach charred perfection. If we think about the ‘manly’ activity of fishing, it is usually an idealised form of bonding and an attempt of being at one with nature. However, perhaps we should also consider how fanfare masculinity expressed through activities such as fishing and hunting leave traces of unwarranted developments and divisions in our environment through both intangible and seaborne ways.

This is a story of disparate elements connected through autobiographical and fantastical accounts. The subtle kookiness of mythic sea life leaves us to ponder about fictitious beings and erased lands connecting architecture and storytelling. This body of work also takes into account the pleasure sought from consuming and participating in these narratives, animating marine life through colonial waves, and gendered footprints with the harpoons and T-scales.

Some of these stories are told by production houses like Disney or Netflix and some of the marine life stories are excavated through researchers and archaeologists. As we are embroiled in a perpetual contest of erasing diversity from the coast to the hills, pulling the land out from underneath others' feet, it is safe to say we are at an irrevocable stage with our surroundings. 

Film captured by Mairaj-ul-Haq. 
Production supported by V.M. Art Gallery and Rangoonwala Community Centre
Photography by Humayun Memon