A Smart Cat's Guide to the National Museum
Commissioned by Jameel Arts Centre for the Exhibition Three Tired Tigers, 2024, curated by Lucas Morin
Book, 32 pp., English/Urdu
17.7 x 17.7 cm (closed)
“Sophia Balagamwala’s artist book playfully celebrates the many cats living in and around one of her favourite museums in Karachi. Also a curator, Balagamwala observed the dynamics at play within the museum, where employees either tolerate, foster or abhor the cats’ presence. Shaped like a travel guide, the book offers practical, day-to-day advice on prime locations for eating, sharpening claws, lounging, napping and more.
A Smart Cat’s Guide to the National Museum takes the cats seriously as museum users yet highlights their struggle to maintain shelter within it. Beyond its humorous tone, the publication underscores the various disagreements and accommodations that come with sharing the museum space, as well as the fundamentally unequal power dynamics between humans and cats, who can be forcefully removed at any time. The book encourages readers to consider how humans can facilitate coexistence with animals and be mindful of their sensitivities, just as we hope they would be with ours, however odd they may find them.” - Lucas Morin
Publication design by Aziz Ahmad
Photography by Daniella Baptista. Courtesy of Art Jameel
