Ruled Paper (red, blue, white)
2014
electric wire on deckle – edge handmade paper
43 x 31 in. I 109 x 79 cm. each
Ruled paper (red, blue, white) consists of two drawings and a hand-inscribed book that mimic four-lined pages used in schools to practice cursive writing. The lines are made of electric wires—conduits of global communications technologies which morph in places into barbed barriers; a recurring motif in Reena Kallat’s works that evokes borders, threat and suspicion. The straight lines which order the hands of pupils evoke ideas of conformity and submission to authority which morph into prejudice and intolerance in the barbed wires. As the lines contort, they resemble waves breaking a tranquil surface and evoke multiple imagery; from electro cardiographs to meteorological and seismological graphs. The colours red, blue and white recall the flag of the colonial British government among other global powers; evoking a long history of colonialist nationalist assertions.
Ruled Paper (red, blue, white)
2015
electric wire on deckle – edge handmade paper
43 x 31 in. I 109 x 79 cm. each
