The space echoes with the haunting bird call of the Kauaʻi ʻŌʻō, a desperate, repeated mating cry. Alas, the response never comes. For it’s the final recorded call of the extinct Hawaiian bird, from 1987, which is at the focal point of one of the art works of Reena Saini Kallat’s ongoing exhibition Spectral Frequencies, at Mumbai’s Chemould Prescott Road, until November 21.
Continuing her inquiry into nature, climate and borders, this exhibition presents large works that explore the intersection of ecological loss, memory and time. Saini-Kallat conceptually transforms disappearing environments and the signals of their loss such as last birdsongs and dried up river beds into art. “By archiving the echoes of what has vanished, the exhibition positions the planet as a vulnerable, shared sanctuary struggling against anthropogenic silencing,” says Saini-Kallat.
The Kauaʻi ʻŌʻō bird features in the work titled Breathlines. It features large bamboo flutes as physical sound waveforms of twelve extinct bird species, translating acoustic architecture into sculptural form. “We are bombarded with so much stimuli and data that when you step in to listen, the very act becomes a moment to pause, reflect and tune into a particular sound that you have been selectively given to think about,” says Kallat, talking about her sound installation.
In the daily chaos of life, we hardly ever think about what this loss means. But this work compels the viewer to ponder on the subject. “The rate at which these species are disappearing is alarming,” adds Kallat, hoping that the installation nudges people to think about what can be done to remedy the environmental degradation.
The next work gives the show its title. Spectral Frequencies is a series of large paintings.
Each canvas depicts a lush forest overlaid and interrupted by stark white sound-wave forms. Taken from field recordings of extinct bird species, these waves cut through the landscapes, appearing like scars or erasures, reflecting on the disappearance of forests around the world.
In the next work, the artist returns to rivers, a subject she has explored and contemplated in her past works too. Her research on rivers began in 2010 in Sweden with a work titled Two Degrees, prompted by the Indus River partitioning in the 1960s. By using terracotta urns and drawings of conjoined rivers such as the Danube, Nile, Rhine and Tigris-Euphrates, Saini-Kallat highlighted historical conflicts over natural resources. “Political divisions and hydroelectric projects attempt to partition natural landscapes, but natural systems maintain deeper, interconnected roots,” she says.
Her recent work, River Morphologies focuses on the shifting course of rivers across the globe. It shows the dried, shifting or dammed riverbeds. By embossing and laser-cutting the heavy paper, Saini-Kallat creates a surface that resembles the natural wrinkles, curves and skeletal remainders of vanishing water systems.
Last Seen in Light features archival prints on Canson Rag paper that serve as visual indices of loss. The textures on the print mimic historical records and field guides, acting as a fading ledger of natural artifacts last documented before disappearing into permanent absence. They are a testimony to species and biological elements on the verge of extinction.