As part of the public programme for Three Tired Tigers, Jameel Arts Centre invites you to a guided bird walk along Dubai Creek led by artist Naser Al Sughaiyer and avian biologist David Tan which builds upon the exhibition artwork Feather Forensics (by Kee Ya Ting & David Tan, with Migrant Ecologies)

This guided walk takes off from Jameel Arts Centre and explores the relationship between movement, migration, and the natural world while looking at the ways cities shape the way birds live and die within the city, as a microcosm of the human condition. For a few hours, participants will observe the diverse bird species inhabiting the creek, engage in conversations on ecology and place, and reflect on the act of walking as a form of artistic and communal practice. The walk will conclude with a shared Iftar meal, offering time for discussion and exchange.

This programme is open to city enthusiasts and birdwatchers who want to know more about the birds of Dubai, and how the city frames the lives of animals. Comfortable walking shoes and sun protection are recommended. The walk will take off from Jameel Arts Centre at 3:30 – please arrive at the meeting point 15 minutes early

Naser Al Sughaiyer is a Palestinian-Jordanian artist working closely with birds, water, and the many often-ignored, more-than-human beings living within the city. His art-life practices explore interspecies intimacy and ways of restoring relations with the living Earth through rituals of prolonged walking, storytelling, planting, whistling, dancing, hospicing, burying and composting. Naser has extensive experience in acting, directing, and creating theatre pieces of multiple genres, whether scripted, improvised, musical, puppet-based, playback or immersive.

David Tan is an avian ecologist and evolutionary biologist whose research primarily focuses on the biogeography, evolution, and conservation of Southeast Asian birds. He is particularly interested in what drives and inhibits diversification in island systems, and how gene flow between populations affects the speciation process. His work integrates the use of natural history collections, vouchered tissue samples, geospatial datasets, and modern genomic techniques. He also studies factors influencing bird-building collisions in Southeast Asia and is interested in exploring ecological and co-evolutionary interactions between birds and other taxa, especially birds and their ectoparasites. He is currently a PhD candidate with the Andersen Lab at the University of New Mexico and the Museum of Southwestern Biology.