In The Sound of Silence (#2), Alavi engages with the histories of Australia’s cameleers, laborers whose lives were intertwined with those of the animals they were brought on to handle, and who immigrated from South and West Asia to help colonize the continent’s arid outback. Though they played a vital role in transporting supplies and building infrastructure, and their music has resonated across the deserts for generations, these laborers continue to face discrimination. Through The Sound of Silence, Alavi honors the cameleers’ music and stories, as captured in oral histories with their descendants, and preserve their forgotten legacy. The project is a collaboration with the 2024 Biennale of Sydney.

The Sound of Silence (#2), 2024
But You are My Home, 2024
VASL, 2024 (with Feroza Hakeem & Raheem Jaan)
All commissioned in 2024 by the Lahore Biennale Foundation