4 MAKERS
2019
Karachi Biennale 2019
Bagh Ibne Qasim Karachi

4 Makers involved rituals conceived by Amin to inaugurate his installation, Impossible Growth, for the second iteration of the Karachi Biennale, curated by Muhammed Zeeshan. It was performed by Anthony, Nelson, Raza and Aftab, helpers in his workshop, and was accompanied by a sound piece that they helped create. Amin asked each to make two bird calls each, which, mixed together, were laid over the rhythm of dripping water. Wearing billed masks of nickel-plated copper haloed in mirror, they walked upon the balustrades of Lady Lloyd Pier, a colonial promenade that juts into Bagh Ibne Qasim, a vast park reclaimed from the Arabian Sea. As their collective birdsong played through speakers, they sprayed lit torches with kerosene, causing them to flare. Amin had sourced yellow, green and blue powder used at Holi, a celebration of spring, love and new life, from a nearby Hindu shrine. He gave a dye to each of the quartet, which they rubbed on their hands and feet. The four tossed their assigned colors to the winds, delivering a salaam to the rising skyline around them. At the approach to the performance and the soaring steel, copper and glass installation around which it turned, Amin had also placed an instructional work. Two signs lay upon the ground that read, both in English and Urdu: “If you light an incense stick, tie a strip of cloth, and taste some salt, your wish will come true.” Salt and joss sticks were made available to the audience as were small strips of red cloth and an iron frame upon which to tie them. This invoked the offering of mannat—routinely practiced at Sufi shrines such as that of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, Karachi’s patron saint, less than a mile away—in which devotees make a wish then a vow to God once it has come true.