Aqua Atlas
2023–2024
Acrylic on Linen
18 x 18 x 1 in l 46 x 46 x 2 cm (each)
1 Print 18 x 18 in.l 46 x 46 cm
Highlighting global inequities in the distribution and use of scarce resources like water, Aqua Atlas comprises small paintings that visualise humanity’s water footprint across nations. The shifting sizes of the white squares fluctuate based on each country’s water consumption patterns; green water (rainwater stored in soil), blue water (surface water found in lakes and rivers), and grey water (amount of water needed to dilute pollutants from goods and services production). The data reveals stark disparities: nations with higher populations, often in the Global South, exhibit lower per capita consumption compared to smaller, resource-intensive nations in the Global North. Each panel is presented in a modernist square-within-a-square format. Kallat is interested in the art historical reference to Kazimir Malevichs emblematic square as a radical gesture of pure abstraction that sought to transcend earthly forms. While that functioned as a conceptual map of a borderless space, one unbound by geography or politics, Kallat retools the language of geometric abstraction to reveal the hidden tensions within environmental structures to map urgent ecological realities.
