At that time, there was an urgent need to alert the mainstream audience of the devastation the virus was causing within some populations....
chatter matter
In the times of a pandemic, we not only need awareness regarding the disease but also, we need to know what effects it is causing on the general public. For instances, The Silence=Death Project was founded in 1987 by Avram Finkelstein and five others at the height of the AIDS epidemic. At that time, there was an urgent need to alert the mainstream audience of the devastation the virus was causing within some populations.
Keeping this in mind, a video screening ‘If These Walls Could Talk” was recently organised in the heart of Karachi city. In this screening, the concept of projecting ideas on a wall was presented. It was an opportunity for the artists’ voices to be heard. The artists’ narratives were projected onto a wall at Village Restaurant, visible to the public at large.
The soundless videos spoke through visuals, removing the barrier of language that can sometimes divide us. As Luis Bu–uel, director of the Surrealist silent film Un Chien Andalou (An Andalusian Dog) (1929), famously said: “Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether.”
The screening was curated by Amin Gulgee and Sara Pagganwala while the producer was Ayesha Baigmohamed and event director was Pomme Gohar. The event was attended by general public, celebrities and socialites.
It also gave the feel of age-old concept of drive-in cinemas as it was supposed to be organised with strict SOPs because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
— Mubashir Ahmed
