2025 Cartographies of the Unseen, Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum is pleased to present Cartographies of the Unseen, a survey solo exhibition by Reena Saini Kallat, one of India’s most eminent contemporary artists and an alumnus of the Sir. J.J. School of Art, which shares a historic and symbolic link with the Museum.
Kallat’s practice reflects a deep engagement with themes of injustice and human hubris, evident in the ways we interact and care for each other and the earth. She excavates troubled histories, often represented through motifs such as barbed wires and fractured identities, highlighting the lingering scars of colonialism. The arbitrary borders drawn by colonial powers in their former colonies – legacies of historic injustices – continue to fuel many of the conflicts plaguing the world today. Kallat deploys this as a powerful artistic trope to underscore her concerns and render prominent what becomes obscured by time and mediatic manipulation. The works have a particular resonance in the context of the Museum, which was an archetypal colonial institution historically engaged in controlling cultural narratives.
Nature on the other hand recognizes no borders. Kallat imagines a world where conflicts are resolved through shared coexistence, subsuming individual vanities for the greater benefit of the species. Man’s hubris has produced various forms of climate catastrophes and the accelerated extinction of species, which the artist suggests can only be checked through the recognition of the profound values that bind us together. Advocating for a renewed awareness of the interconnections that sustain life on earth, Kallat’s work is a poetic plea for a kinder, gentler, more equitable world.