Fish

A Kashmiri fish swims through myth and militarization. Salman Khursheed Lone's animation intertwines folklore, sacred ponds, concertina wires, and the endurance of living under occupation.

Published 31 December 2025

This has finished

On view
12 December 2025 – 31 March 2026
Times
10AM to 6PM (Mon to Sunday) Till March 31st, 2026
Part of
Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26

Where

BMS Warehouse

Event venue · Bazaar Road, Mattancherry

Fish swims through space, jumps on fields, plays in concertina wires, and in army camps. It embodies endurance and resilience amid invasions on its presence, history, and environment.

Artists

Salman Khursheed Lone (Institute of Music & Fine Arts, University of Kashmir)

Medium

Animation

Exhibition view of 'Fish' at BMS Warehouse, Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26.
'Fish' at BMS Warehouse — a Bazaar Road trading warehouse turned Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26 venue.

About

Fish draws inspiration from everyday experiences of life in Kashmir and its political implications. Salman Khursheed Lone intertwines myth, folklore, childhood games, and lived experiences into a visual diary.

At its centre is a Kashmiri fish that floats as both myth and metaphor. The story of Naag Gaade (Fish) preserves communal sensitivity and the syncreticism of human and other-than-human relations—the fish as protector of sacred water bodies.

Salman connects this with a personal anecdote: seeing army personnel catch and eat fish from a sacred pond, violating this belief. This became his point of departure for understanding socio-political and cultural impositions amid growing military presence.

'Fish' sees and exists beyond language, time, and death. Then, Fish swims again.