Fish Meets Grill, a solo exhibition by Veera Rustomji, opens on 24th March 2021 at VM Art Gallery, Karachi. The exhibition will continue until 11th April.
The title 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. 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, and wearing the skins of beings on our backs, it is safe to say we are at an irrevocable stage with our surroundings. These are the musings before the calamities.