Memoria Mausolea
2007
ivory duco paint on FRP
34 x 45 x 21 in. I 86 x 114 x 53 cm
Memoria Mausolea is modelled after The Gateway of India, a grand Indo-Saracenic monument built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Bombay (now Mumbai). While the Gateway was intended to serve as a ceremonial entrance for British royalty ‘to’ India, the last convoy of British Troops, The Somerset Light Infantry departed ‘from’ India in 1948 through this very monument. Kallat’s sculpture envelops the Gateway of India with names of streets and places in Mumbai that were renamed after India gained independence. This act of renaming was part of a broader decolonization effort to replace British names with local or Indian names, reflecting a reclaiming of cultural identity and history. By inscribing these names onto the monument, Kallat layers the Gateway with the memory of the departure of the British Empire and the ongoing process of historical reclamation.
