Zine + Sonic | 2024

“When I first visited the Mina Zayed port neighbourhood in September 2023 on the invitation of 421 Art Campus, it had been abandoned for nearly a decade. It was a wildly rare sight to see nature reclaiming urban spaces, especially in a place like the UAE. Here was a precious window of chance to experience and document this neighbourhood before it gets unrecognizably gentrified. As a forager, I was initially drawn to studying the flora and fauna that had been thriving without human intervention. The more time I spent there, the more I became curious about its people and history, both real and imagined. Thanks to the carte blanche on the project, what started out as “an open-ended research with some public engagement” took on the shape of a memento – a zine and a sonic to capture the spirit of a place that will only remain in memory.”

Foraging the Mina is a research project commissioned by 421 Arts Campus. Over a dozen visits spread across September 2023 – May 2024, the artist, wearing her lens as an urban forager and cultural practitioner, studied the biodiverse ecosystem in Mina Zayed, recorded sights and sounds and pieced anecdotal histories of a place on the verge of sweeping gentrification.

The project, which also included a curated public walk by the artist in February 2024, culminated with the creation of a zine – a distillation of her findings and musings, and a sonic memento of Mina Zayed created in collaboration with independent singer-songwriter and producer Aaina Padiath.

Listen to the audio track here.