KARACHI: The Karachi Biennale Trust’s public outreach programme where artists, designers and architects are invited to transform disused cable reels into something creative has begun to bear fruit. As part of the initiative called ‘Reel On Hai’, one such reel, on which distinguished cartoonist and painter Feica and his daughter Fakeha have worked, was unveiled at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Friday evening.

Archbishop Joseph Coutts was the chief guest at the unveiling ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, he said he got excited when he was first approached and explained about the project. He said he was happy that something wonderful was happening in Karachi after all that the city had gone through. He said he was in Karachi a long time back when he lived here for 10 years and his hair was black. When he came back in 2012 as the archbishop of Karachi, he said, he saw so many changes, mostly negative, as the city grew wildly. He said when he got to know about Fieca and met him he thought that was something very nice. He said he had heard from the organisers words like ‘harmony’ and ‘making life livable’ and ‘public spaces’, so he thought we needed to share the public space here (at the cathedral) right in the heart of the city. He said what the Karachi Biennale and other groups were doing was a positive sign, which meant people didn’t want to live in an environment of hatred and fear any longer. “We should keep the reel rolling,” he remarked.

Feica said he’d been drawing since 1974 when he was at the National College of Arts (NCA). He said he had been consistently doing that and even when he travelled by train he kept canvases or sketch book with him. He said he always liked to work on unusual surfaces (the unveiled artwork is made of wood). He said when he was at the NCA, he used to gather ‘waste material’ to turn it into works of art. Suggesting the importance of the public outreach campaign, he said during his work on the cable reel, 50 to 60 children would gather around him inquiring about it. He said he enjoyed it and hoped more artworks would be made.

Managing Trustee of the Karachi Biennale Trust Niilofur Farrukh said in 2017 the biennale would organise a series of art shows, bringing community, history of the city and art together. She said the unveiling ceremony was the result of efforts made by the Public Outreach Committee bringing community together through Feica’s work. She said Feica invested his energies into making the reel into something monumental. She said it would engage people. She said the name that Feica had given to it was ‘peace’.

Masuma Hilai Khwaja briefed the audience on how the idea of turning cable reels into works of art came about. She said the first reel art was done in Orangi Town because it was a microcosm of Karachi, and the one at the cathedral was second. She thanked those individuals and companies which had extended their support to the Karachi Biennale for the project.

Fahad Chinoy, Usman Ail and Farrukh Hussain also spoke.

Published in Dawn September 24th, 2016