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Join us a for a film screening of ‘All That Perishes at the Edge of Land’ (2019) by Hira Nabi. In this work, the filmmaker and artist examines the shipbreaking industry, focussing on the decommissioning of the ship Ocean Master at the Gadani shipbreaking yards in her homeland of Pakistan.
Before the ship met its demise, Nabi gave it a voice and staged conversations between the vessel and the labourers dismantling it. Nabi collaborated with shipbreaking workers, who voiced their concern over the contrast between their aspirations for better lives and the pollution and brutality embedded in the industry. The stories exchanged between the workers and the ship allude to the hazards and toxicity that affect the workers and the sea.
The film explores how ships like the Ocean Master navigate the oceans for a short time before being decommissioned in ever-faster cycles of trade. The protagonists note that this process benefits the large corporations that own shipbreaking yards, and wealthy nations and shipping companies that export their toxic waste to South Asia. Inspired by the 1959 book Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire) by Urdu writer and poet Qurratulain Hyder, Nabi incorporates insights from discussions with her mother, as well as ideas from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011) by Rob Nixon and poems by left-wing Pakistani author Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
The screening of 30 minutes will be followed by an inclusive conversation conducted in Urdu, Hindi, and English.
Open to all and free to attend. Refreshments provided. RSVP here.
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