Woven Chronicle

Born in New Delhi in 1973, Reena Saini Kallat is one of India’s most significant contemporary artists. She says of 'Woven Chronicle':

'… I've been thinking of creating a south-up oriented map, and what can be better than to create it for Australia. While south-up oriented world maps have been used as an educational tool to discuss and discard culturally biased perceptions, by altering our understanding through a shift in perspective, they can be traced back to the early 1900s, seen as a political statement reacting to the north-up oriented world maps that have dominated map publication (ref: the Australian, Stuart McArthur's Universal Corrective Map of the World from 1979).'

'Woven Chronicle' traces migratory movements worldwide, across sovereign nations and politically charged borders. The work presents routes historically taken by peoples including indentured labourers, settlers, contract workers, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as professionals traveling for their work. In spite of the many potential dangers, multitudes of people are constantly moving and intersecting across the globe. The wires Kallat uses to create her images are transmitters of ideas and energy; they symbolise connections. Alongside, the inclusion of barbed wire and fencing materials serves to interrogate inequities in the world and the barriers and obstacles that can prevent freedom. As borders shift, the colours and divisions articulated in Kallat’s 'Woven Chronicle' works also change. Speakers incorporated into the installation parallel the movement of people with the flow and pulse of data. They emit unsettling sounds, from high voltage electric impulses, the boom of deep sea drones, factory sirens, ship horns, communication tones and phone signals, to birds chirping.