This book is published by Stolon Press, to accompany the film Hustle Culture. Both the film and the book were made for the third Lahore Biennale, Of Mountains and Seas, curated by John Tain, and held from 5 October to 8 November, 2024. The text was written in Sydney, Port Dickson, and Lahore, with a forthcoming edition in Urdu.

Occasionally John will send updates about the birds visiting the baths. Susi does too, when she tends to them by replenishing the water. All these birds live amidst heavy industry. They nest in the refineries, fly through the smoke and the gaseous air and over the green deserts of oil palms, visiting baths and spots like the one at the side of the house, and the habitat corridors too. It was my selfish pleasure to film them, wanting to see them up close. Later it was called art (we called it that). Now, I’m finishing this writing in a hotel room in Lahore, where the birds I filmed will be shown alongside prints Simryn made of plants from around her home, and where just outside there are also the many birds of Lahore: sparrows, eagles, buzzards (the same ones I saw above the house in Malaysia, perhaps, since they migrate throughout the Indian subcontinent), mynas, pigeons, crows and hoopoes. Waseem, a taxi driver I met here, who took us under his wing and drove us to and from our hotel and worksite on several mornings, says there are more raptors flying above Lahore now than ever before. He thinks there’s a correlation between inflation and birds of prey, since people feed them with the hope of getting something in return, maybe bettering their financial luck. Here, hard times bring more birds. Do any economists study ornithology?

—Tom Melick