Reena Saini Kallat New Delhi, India, b.1973
Reena Saini Kallat (b. 1973, Delhi, India) works across drawing, photography, sculpture, and video to examine borders, memory, migration, and the constructed nature of national narratives. Shaped by the legacy of Partition experienced by her paternal family, her practice engages histories of displacement, environmental exploitation, and archives of the disappeared. Through motifs such as electric cables twisted into barbed wire and the use of rubber stamps, she reflects on control, surveillance, and the fragile promise of connectivity, re-inscribing erased names and marginalised histories into collective consciousness. Her engagement with legal and bureaucratic language reveals both the ideals and exclusions embedded within systems of power.
Kallat has exhibited widely at major institutions including Tate Modern, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Migros Museum, Zurich; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo; and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, among others. Her museum solo exhibitions include Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai (2025); Kunstmuseum Thun (2023); Compton Verney and Firstsite, UK (2022); and Musée Guimet, Paris (2020). She has participated in major biennials including Sharjah (2023), Havana (2024, 2019), and Bangkok (2020).
In 2024, Nature Morte presented her solo exhibition Requiem (The Last Call) at its Dhan Mill gallery, New Delhi. A major sculpture from the exhibition was subsequently presented by the gallery at Frieze Sculpture, London (2025), curated by Fatoş Üstek.
Kallat currently lives and works in Mumbai, India.
Selected Artworks
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
2025
Cartographies of the Unseen, Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India
2024
Zero Horizon, Nature Morte Dhan Mill, New Delhi, India
What the Sky Won’t Say, the Ground Will, Richard Saltoun Gallery, Rome, Italy
2023
Fluid Geographies, Outdoor Project for the 75th anniversary of Geoffrey Bawa’s Estate at Lunuganga, Bentota, Sri Lanka
Deep Rivers Run Quiet, Kunstmuseum Thun, Switzerland
2022
Common Ground, Compton Verney, United Kingdom
Leaking Lines, Firstsite, United Kingdom
2021
Deep Rivers Run Quiet, Norrtalje Konsthall, Sweden
2020
Verso-Recto-Recto-Verso, MNAAG-Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris
Deep Rivers Run Quiet, Viewing Room, Nature Morte, Delhi
MOCA London Web Exhibition
Verso-Recto-Recto-Verso, presented by Nature Morte at Bikaner House, New Delhi
2019
Blind Spots – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
2017
Earth Families – Manchester Museum, UK
2015
Porous Passages – Nature Morte, New Delhi
Hyphenated Lives – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Offsite – Public Art Project – Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
2014
Anatomy of Forking Paths – Art Houz, Art Chennai, Chennai
2013
Zegna Art Public Project – Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
2011
Falling Fables – Maximum India at the Kennedy Centre, Washington
Labyrinth of Absences – Nature Morte, New Delhi
2009
Drift – Primo Marella Gallery, Milan
2008
Silt of Seasons – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai Subject to Change Without Notice – Walsh Gallery, Chicago 2006
Rainbow of Refuse – Bodhi Art, Mumbai and Singapore
2005
Black Flute (And Other Stories) – Nature Morte, New Delhi
2004
Black Flute – Gallery Chemould, Mumbai
2002
The Battlefield Is the Mind – Sakshi Gallery, Bangalore Seven Faces of Dust – Chicago Radio, Mumbai
2000
Skin – Gallery Chemould, Mumbai Art Inc. Gallery, New Delhi
1998
Orchard of Home Grown Secrets - Gallery Chemould and Pundole Art Gallery, Mumb
Group Exhibitions
2025
In the Shadows, curated by Fatos Ustek, Frieze Sculpture, Regent’s Park, London, United Kingdom
Offscreen, La Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France
I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, curated by Bindi Vora, Autograph, London, United Kingdom
Serpenti Infinito, curated by Nature Morte, The Art House, Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai, India
Die Linie I The Line, Heidi Horten Collection, Vienna, Austria
The Power of Diversity, 6th Southern Biennial: People in Resistance, Venezuela
Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom
We Sinful Women: The Library Project, Curated by Salima Hashmi and Manmeet K Walia, The Library, SOAS University, London
Contemporary Now, Lalit Kala Academy, Chennai, India
2024
Migrations, Human Odyssey, Musée de L’Homme, Paris, France
Shared Horizons, 15th Bienal de la Habana, Cuba
Between Rivers, curated by Owen Martin, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
My World, curated by Hans den Hartog Jager, Museum Singer Laren, Netherlands
In The Making: Drawing Refining Revising, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
State of Fashion Biennale, curated by Louise Bennetts and Rachel Dedman, Netherlands
What IS SEEN AND UNSEEN: MAPPING SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN ART IN CHICAGO, curated by Shelly Bahl, South Asia Institute, Chicago, US
Drawing Biennial 2024, Drawing Room, London, United Kingdom
Right Foot First, curated by Phalguni Guliani, Hampi Art Labs, Karnataka, India
Aesthetic Responses, The Culture Story, Singapore
Home and the World, curated by Thomas Berghuis, Museum Van Loon, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023
Back to the Roots – Reena Kallat & Melanie Siegel, curated by Julia Berghoff, Kunstverein Reutlingen, Germany
What POWER does to us – About privileges, risks and opportunities, Vögele Kultur Zentrum, Switzerland
CheMoulding FRAMING FUTURE ARCHIVES, Mumbai, India
No But Where Are You Really From?, Public Art Project supported by The Gallery and Artichoke Trust, United Kingdom
Between Borders, Museum Arnhem, Netherlands
Traces of Place, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
A Demonstration of Ornamentation, Nature Morte, New Delhi
RHIZOME Tracing Ecocultural Identities, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai
After Hope: Videos of Resistance, Peabody Essex Museum, USA
Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates
2022
Making Worlds, Sydney Modern Project, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Tomorrow’s Tigers, Sotheby’s, UK
Yet, With Love curated by Seolhui Lee, Podo Museum, South Korea
Inner life of things: Around Anatomies and Armatures curated by Roobina Karode, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Noida
Modus Operandi lll: Together Alone, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Legal Alien curated by Meera Menezes, Bikaner House, New Delhi
2021
Holding Space, South South Veza
On l Site, Nature Morte, Bikaner House, New Delhi
Tree Story curated by Charlotte Day, MUMA Melbourne
When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art, curated by Eva Respini and Ruth Erickson, Cantor Arts Centre at Stanford University
2020
Potential Worlds 1: Planetary Memories, curated by Heike Munder and Suad Garayeva-Maleki, Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zurich
Displaced: Contemporary Artists Confront The Global Refugee Crisis, curated by Irene Hofmann and Brandee Caoba, SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico
Unflattening, The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
TRILOGY: After Hope, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, CA
Escape Routes, curated by Apinan Poshyananda, Bangkok Art Biennale
Visions from India: 21st Century Art from the Pizzuti Collection, Curated by Catherine Walworth, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina
When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art curated by Eva Respini and Ruth Erickson, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA
Vision Exchange: Perspectives from India to Canada, Curated by Catherine Crowston and Jonathan Shaughnessy, The McKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
3rd International Biennial of Asuncion Paraguay Curatorial team: Dannys Montes de Oca, Bettina Brizuela, Damian Cabrera and Omar Estrada, Paraguay
Women artists from Asia: Dancing Queen, Arario Gallery Cheonan
2019
When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art, curated by Eva Respini and Ruth Erickson, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
Open Borders, 14th Curitiba International Biennial, curated by Adolfo Montejo Navas and Tereza de Arruda, Museum Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil
5 Artists 5 Projects: Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, India
Tomorrow Triggers - The Academician's Room, Burlington House, Royal Academy of Arts, London
Abu Dhabi Art - Abu Dhabi, UAE
Modus Operandi II: In-Situ: Artist Studio – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Continental Shift: Contemporary Art and South Asia – curated by Rodney James, Bunjil Place Gallery, Victoria, Australia
The Construction of the Possible – curated by the team at Wifredo Lam Centre for Contemporary Art, 13th Havana Biennial, Cuba
Fracture/Fiction - ILHAM Gallery, Kuala Lumpur
Vision Exchange: Perspectives from India to Canada – Winnipeg Art Gallery, Canada
Silent Conflict – Visual Arts Gallery, Habitat Centre, Delhi
Alteration/Activation/Abstraction – curated by Betty Seid, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, New York
Making Art: Materials & Technology – Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai
Distilled Blueprints – curated by Veerangana Solanki, Alembic group, Baroda
Tomorrow’s Tigers, Specially Commissioned Rugs – Laura Culpan + Susie Allen Co-Directors Artwise Sotheby’s, London
ANIMALS: Art, Science, Nature, Society – Curated by Professor Jeffrey Shaw, National Palace Museum, Taiwan
Vision Exchange: Perspectives from India to Canada – The Art Museum of the University of Toronto Art Basel, Hong Kong, presented by Gallery Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai Migration Museum, Godrej Culture Lab Pop-up Museum, Mumbai
2018
Connecting Threads: Textings in Contemporary Practice – Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
ANIMALS: Art, Science, Nature, Society – curated by Professor Jeffrey Shaw, CityU Exhibition Gallery, Hong Kong
Untold Stories Manifesto – curated by Valentina Levy, 2nd edition of Something Else OFF Biennale Cairo, Egypt
The Sculpture Park, Edition II, Madhavendra Palace – curated by Peter Nagy, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur
Vision Exchange: Perspectives from India to Canada – curated by Catherine Crowston and Jonathan Shaughnessy, Art Gallery of Alberta and National Gallery of Canada
Fearless: Contemporary South Asian Art – curated by Natalie Seiz, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Modus Operandi – curated by Gallery Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Tate Exchange – Building an Art Biennale – curated by Sunil Maghnani and Ed D’Souza, Tate Modern London
Contemporary Art Acquisitions – Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Facing India – curated by Dr. Uta Ruhkamp, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
Asymmetrical Objects – curated by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Sensorium: The End is Only the Beginning – Sunaparanta, Goa 2020 Horniman Circle Gardens, Mumbai, India
2017
I don’t want to be there when it happens – curated by Eugenio Viola Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Australia
Memories of Partition – part of the New North and South network, Manchester Museum, UK
Contemporary Art Acquisitions – Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, India
India Re-worlded: Seventy years of Investigating a Nation – curated by Arshiya Lokhandwala, Gallery Odyssey, Mumbai, India.
Nuit Blanche Toronto at Drake Commissary – curated by November Paynter, Toronto, Canada. The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace – curated by Peter Nagy, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur, India
Make a Change and Crossroads No 2. – curated by Torun Ekstrand, Norrtalje Museum + Konsthall, Sweden
Borders: Us and Them – curated by Qian Lin, NYU Shanghai Art Gallery, China
Transforming Vision: 21st century art from the Pizzuti Collection – Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio
2016
Insecurities: tracing Displacement and Shelter – organized by Sean Anderson and Ariele Dionne- rosnick, The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York
Hybridizing Earth – Discussing Multitude, 10th Busan Biennale, curated by Cheagab Yun, Kiswire Suyeong factory, Busan, South Korea
Conceiving Space – Colombo Art Biennial, curated by Alnoor Mitha, Sri Lanka
Tabiyat: Medicine and Healing in India – Curated by Ratan Vaswani, CSMVS (Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya), Mumbai
Make a Change - Curated by Torun Ekstrand, Cultural Ronneby, Sweden
The Eye and The Mind: New Interventions in Indian Art – National Gallery of Modern Art, Jaipur House, New Delhi
2015
The Eye and the Mind: New Interventions in Indian Art – Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing Aperture, Indian Summer Festival – Old Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Vancouver The Eye and The Mind: New Interventions in Indian Art – China Art Museum, Shanghai A Summer Mix – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
One and One Make Eleven (Contemporary Art from India) – Kunsthaus Langenthal, Switzerland
[en]counters 2015, Spaces in Transition – CST Terminus, Mumbai
The Eye and The Mind: New Interventions In Indian Art – presented by National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
Kala Ghoda Festival, Mumbai
2014
Off the wall – Sir. J.J. School of Art, Mumbai
India: Maximum City – St. Moritz Art Masters, Switzerland
Encounters: Is There Love in This Air? – Cattle depot, C & G ArtPartment, Hong Kong
Aesthetic Bind: Floating World – Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
Encounters -Is there love in the air? – Public project with Art Oxygen in Mumbai
Forms of Activism, exhibition marking 25 years of SAHMAT – Lalit Kala Akademi galleries, Rabindra bhavan, New Delhi
2013
No Madness in No Man’s Land – Eslite Gallery, Taipei Haein Art Project – Haeinsa Temple, Korea
Something Old and Something New – Cheongju International Crafts Biennale, Cheongju
Spell of Spill: Utopia of Ecology – Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
En(counters): Powerplay – along Mumbai’s waterfronts, gardens and historic sites
JJ’s 90s: The Time of Change – Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai
2012
India Today – ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Indian Parallax or The Doubling of Happiness – Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata
WONDERS – masterpieces from private collections, Denmark India side by side – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brazil Group show, Eigen + Art Lab, Berlin
India Side by Side – SESC Belenzino, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Stemmer Fra Pandemonium – Punkt-Galleri F 15, Moss, Norway
To Let the World In: Narrative and Beyond In Contemporary Indian Art – Lalit Kala Regional Centre, Chennai
The Contemporary Sultanate – The Sunrydge, New Delhi Kalaghoda Art Festival, Mumbai
The Skoda Prize Exhibition, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi
2011
India Side by Side – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio De Janeiro Giant Elephant: Contemporary Art from India – H Cube Gallery, Seoul Roundabout – The Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Goteborg International Biennale for Contemporary Art – curated by Sarat Maharaj, Göteborgs Konsthall and Bohuslans Konsthall, Uddevalla, Sweden
Right to Dissent – Clark House, Mumbai
Red – Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi
Of Gods and Goddesses Cinema Cricket: The New Cultural Icons of India – Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Samtidigt – Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Iconoclasts and Iconodules – curated by Ombretta Argo, Religare Art Gallery, New Delhi The Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale – Surrey Art Gallery, Canada
The Intuitive: Logic Revisted – from the Osians Collection at The World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland
2010
La Route Le La Soie (The Silk Route) – Tri Postal, Lille
Samtidigt – Kulterhuset, Stockholm
The River Project – Campbelltown Art Centre, Sydney Roundabout – City Gallery Wellington, Wellington Waterways – Walsh Gallery, Chicago
In Transition: New Art from India – Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver
Bring Me a Lion: An Exhibition of Contemporary Indian Art – Webster University, curated by Jeffrey Hughes and Dana Turkovic, Cecile R. Hunt Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
Never Run Away – 2-person exhibition curated by Shaheen Merali, Stux Gallery, New York
The Empire Strikes Back – Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Urban Manners 2: Contemporary Artists from India – curated by Adelina Von Furstenberg in collaboration with Peter Nagy, at SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2009
View Points and Viewing points – 2009 Asian Art Biennale, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
Spectrum – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Milan Galleria – curated by Georgio Verzotti, Triennale Museum, Milan
Passage to India Part II – Initial Access, Frank Cohen Collection, Wolverhampton, UK Ventosul Biennale, Curitiba, Brazil
Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art – National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, Essl Museum, Vienna
India Xianzai: Contemporary Indian Art – Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai
Low Blow and Other Species of Confusion – Stux Gallery, New York
Indian Narratives in the 21st Century Between Memory And History – Casa Asia, Madrid and Barcelona, Spain
Body Chatter – Walsh Gallery, Chicago
2008
Chalo! India: A New Era of Indian Art – Mori Art Museum, Japan
India Moderna – curated by Juan Guardiola, organized by Casa Asia, IVAM Museum, Valencia, Spain 3rd Nanjing Triennale – curated by Fumihiko Sumitomo and Jaeyoung Kang, China
TEAF (Taehwagang Eco Art Festival) – Dream River, Korea Everywhere Is War (And Rumours of It) – Bodhi Art Gallery, Mumbai Fire Walkers – Stefan Stux Gallery, New York
Three Points of View – Gallery Mirchandani & Steinrucke, Mumbai
Excavation: Memory/Myth/ Membrane – Museum Gallery, Mumbai
2007
International Incheon Women Artists Biennale, Korea
Soft Power Asian Attitude – Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai
Urban Manners – curated by Adelina Von Furstenberg, Hangar Bicocca, Milan
India Now: Contemporary Indian Art Between Continuity and Transformation – curated by Daniela Palozzoli, Spazio Oberdan, Milan
New Narratives Contemporary Art from India – curated by Betty Seid, Chicago Cultural Centre, Chicago
Thermocline of Art New Asian Waves – curated by Wonil Rhee and Peter Weibel, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2006
Modern Indian Works on Paper – Arthur Ross Gallery, Philadelphia, The Georgia Museum of Art, USA
Lille 3000 Maximum City Mumbai – Lille, France
Hungry God: Indian Contemporary Art – curated by Yun Chaegab and June Gwak, Arario Gallery, Beijing and Busan MOMA
India Express: Art and Popular Culture – curated by Tuija Kutti and Erja Pusa, Tennis Palace, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland
2005
Mom and Pop Art – Walsh Gallery, Chicago
Span – Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai
Indian Paintings of The New Millenium – curated by Helen Asquine Fazio Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, Fairfield University
2004
Contemporary Art from India – Thomas Erben Gallery, New York
Zoom! Art in Contemporary India – curated by Nancy Adajania and Luis Serpa, The Kulturgest Museum, Lisbon
2003
Crossing Generations, diVERGE, – Gallery Chemould’s 40th anniversary show, curated by Geeta Kapur and Chaitanya Sambrani, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai
Hard Copy – 2-person show with Jitish Kallat, Gallery 88, Kolkata
Tiranga – curated by Peter Nagy, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Elephant Walks – Youth Arts Project in collaboration with Jitish Kallat as part of Indians + Cowboys exhibition, Curators: Aaron Seetu and Ruth Watson Gallery 4A, Sydney
The Tree from The Seed: Contemporary Art from India – curated by Gavin Jantjes Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo
2002
Crosscurrents – organized by Artworks for 50th anniversary of Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
Reclaim Our Freedom – organized by Open Circle, Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai
Crossing Borders – Gallery Windkracht 13, Den Helder, Holland
2001
Big River 2 – CCA7 Gallery, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Aom: Art on The Move – organized by SAHMAT, New Delhi
1999
Edge of The Century – curated by Amit Mukhopadhyay, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, New Delhi
1998
Essays in Time: Kinetic Sculptures – Nehru Centre, Mumbai
1997
India In Harmony 1947-1997 – Nehru Centre, Mumbai
A Page from My Diary – Sans Tache Art Gallery, Mumbai
Fresh Work – Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Mumbai
1996
Monsoon Show – Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai
1995
Varsha ‘95 – Y.B. Chavan Gallery, Mumbai