We Ate The Birds
Koel Gallery
Karachi, 2017
We Ate The Birds was curated by Seher Naveed
Occasionally on Sundays during lunch at my grandmother’s home we would spot through the dining room windows, a mother egret and her baby nervously pecking through the barren backyard garden. I found it so peculiar that these feeble yet elegant white birds were foraging around in urban Old Clifton where garbage, smoke and human occupation would easily scare away any animal.
Over the years, the Sunday lunches stopped and so did the egrets’ visits; with the growing encroachment of man’s need for ‘civilisation’ migratory birds such as the egrets are faced with a limited number of spaces to call home. For over a decade, I have been building an archive of documentation of old colonial era structures in Karachi which have uncertain futures.
Most of these buildings are empty homes and due to family complications for the aging owners, high maintenance costs and an increase in the need for land to build high-rise apartments, these houses of Karachi need an economic purpose to continue standing. Viewed as a costly burden, many of the owners’ heirs feel inclined to sell off the property, unaware of their contribution to the erasure of Karachi’s history. These series of compositions feature an ideal situation where perhaps, the egrets could inhabit these homes and possibly be the future caretakers since the estates are unwanted by humans. Perched on top of windows, cabinets and crouched behind furniture, the egrets are shown to be quiet occupiers of the interior space.