I dedicate these images to the late Prince Malik Ata who passed away while I was on my way to photograph him at his mansion in Punjab. He claimed that he had become ill when the most poisonous snake in the world bit him during an endurance horse race in Sweden. I later discovered that no such snake exists in the region–he died from natural causes. Malik’s performative life and stories, the mythology he weaved around himself, serves as the essence of these photographs.
‘Peacocks’ is a story about manhood in Pakistan. It’s about a puffed up chest so fragile it will shatter if beaten. It’s about a stained heritage of contradiction, the hero’s journey, and the Puer Aeternus - twirling a rose in one hand and clutching a gun in the other. It’s also about sick Paki bikes.
