Karachi Biennale Trust presents bird sculpture to zoo

An Iranian-British sculptor has presented the Karachi Zoological Garden with a sculpture of Simurgh. The artist, Mohsin Keiyani, produced the sculpture for the second Karachi Biennale, a city-wide international art exhibition, held in 2019. In his visit to Pakistan, Keiyani was supported by the British Council. He worked for two months in the country and created 37 bird sculptures from scrap metals in Karachi. He left behind one of the sculptures as a present for the zoo.

Simurgh means 100 birds, explained Almas Bana, one of the trustees of the Karachi Biennale Trust. “It is actually based on a very famous book by Persian poet Attar,” he said, adding that the book was a story on 100 birds that went on a journey looking for peace and salvation over months and years over various valleys and mountains. Some of the birds got tired, other died.

“At the end of the journey, there was only one bird that went to the destination. So 100 birds started and only one bird reached the final destination.” The sculpture, he said, was a metaphor for the people who wanted to search for inner peace and inner understanding.

In a ceremony, the Karachi Biennale Trust gifted Simurgh to the people of Karachi. The artwork is four-and-a-half feet tall and has been made of scrap metal. It depicts a bird and reflects the theme of the Karachi Biennale 2019 ‘Flight Interrupted: Eco-leaks from the Invasion Desk’, which is inspired by ecological consequences of dense urbanisation.

Through his use of scrap metal, Keiyani highlighted the possibilities of creating beauty from recycled material. The artist used the medium of art to encourage environmental friendly behaviour and reflected his own experience of being an immigrant in Birmingham, UK.

The managing trustee of the Karachi Biennale Trust, Niilofur Farrukh, said Keiyani collected scrap metals from Shershah and other such places of the city. She added that the trust was founded in 2016 by a group of educators and art professionals. “That was a time of extreme violence in Karachi and we felt quite hopeless,” she said, adding that they decided to use art to bring the city together that had really got fractured.

It was then they decided to install art in all parts of the city. The biennale is held every two years and the upcoming one would kick off on October 31 and last till November 13 at eight different venues of the city this year.

The trustees of the Karachi Biennale Trust were present at the handover of the artwork to the Karachi Zoological Garden, which was one of the venues of the Karachi Biennale 2019. The artwork will be accessible free of charge to the public visiting the zoo and play a role in promoting leisure, reflection and well-being among them.

The British Council will also be supporting the upcoming third Karachi Biennale that would explore the intersection of art and technology around the theme of 'Collective imagination- now and the next'. The curator of the event is Faisal Anwar, acclaimed hybrid art practitioner based in Canada. The Engro Corp is the lead partner for the event.