Biography
Reena Saini Kallat is an interdisciplinary artist whose work examines ongoing civilisational affinities of language, culture, trade and technology that transcend the superficial divisions of nation-state boundaries. Drawing from the impact of the partition of the Indian subcontinent on her own family history, Kallat’s poetic and speculative practice interprets the political dimensions of cartography through the lens of the natural world. Often interweaving botanical and zoological elements, the artist traces the imprints of history on human geography, alluding to the environment’s defiance of manmade lines arbitrarily imposed upon the world.
Kallat’s work has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, including Common Ground, Compton Verney, the UK (2022); Leaking Lines, Firstsite, the UK (2022); Deep Rivers Run Quiet, Norrtalje Konsthall, Sweden (2021); Verso-Recto-Recto-Verso, MNAAG-Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guiment, Paris (2020); Blind Spots, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai (2019); Earth Families, Manchester Museum, UK (2017). Her group exhibitions include Making Worlds,
Sydney Modern Project, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2023); Yet, With Love, Podo Museum, South Korea (2022); Inner life of things: Around Anatomies and Armatures, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida, India (2022); Tree Story, MUMA, Melbourne (2021); TRILOGY: After Hope, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (2020); Escape Routes, Bangkok Art Biennale (2020); 3rd International Biennial of Asuncion Paraguay (2020); The Construction of the Possible, 13th Havana Biennial (2019); Tate Exchange – Building an Art Biennale, Tate Modern, London (2018), Insecurities: tracing Displacement and Shelter, MOMA, New York (2016) among others.
Kallat’s works are part of several public and private collections, including Le Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Manchester Museum; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; Vancouver Art Gallery; Sharjah Art Foundation; Norrtalje Konsthall, Sweden; Initial Access (Frank Cohen Collection), the UK; Burger Collection, Hong Kong; Fondazione Golinelli, Italy; Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi; Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai; and National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
She holds a BFA in painting from Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai (1996). Born in 1973 in New Delhi, Kallat lives and works in Mumbai.
SAF participation:
Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023)
