The Ocean Would Run Dry,

2015

Material / Technology / Carrier

1-Kanal-Video, Farbe, kein Ton, 1 Min. 30 Sek.

Dimensions of the object

Displayed

Not on display

Department

20./21. Jahrhundert

Genre

Medienkunst

Inventory number

16455

Acquisition

2016 von der Künstlerin erworben

Stock

Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Sammlung Moderne Kunst in der Pinakothek der Moderne München

Citation

Adeela Suleman, The Ocean Would Run Dry, 2015, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Sammlung Moderne Kunst in der Pinakothek der Moderne München, URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artwork/ZMLJa92xJv (Last updated on 19.06.2023)

Suleman describes Karachi, her hometown, as one of the most interesting yet most violent cities in the world. The artist has chosen the sea as a fitting visual analogy for this mix of beauty and cruelty. Like the Pakistani port city, it too is vast and beautiful, but merciless in its convulsions. The work’s title echoes a saying of the artist’s grandmother. In her eyes, the ocean’s waters reflect the deadly injustice of the world, routinely tingeing the sky red. “I see so much water but not a drop to drink,” Suleman says. As in her other video works, the artist here makes use of and reworks found imagery, as a reflection of our image-driven culture and its subjective modes of seeing.