Hyphenated Lives is a re-imagining of fantastical mutations within the natural world, where new hybridized species of birds and animals, trees and flowers otherwise foregrounded as national symbols and proclaimed by nations as their own, symbolically get combined, with the hyphen serving to unify the otherwise conflicted nations they represent. Reena Kallat felt the need to turn to species other than the human race to tell us how to share the planet, where the existence of one depends on the other or the disappearance of one species affects the other adversely.

One of the motifs in the making of these works is the electrical cable. These conduits of contact that transmit ideas and information, bringing people together, become painstakingly woven entanglements that morph into barbed wires like barriers. Such explorations into ideas of independence and interdependence, directed at our individual conflicted selves and our relationship with others as neighbours or as nations, prod us to think of the many bonds and borders that make our complex existence.


Man- yan | Man - yan- Tree
Indian banyan (Ficus bengalensis) root themselves to form new trees and grow over large areas.Because of this characteristic and its longevity, this tree is considered immortal and is an integral part of the myths and legends of
India!

The Mango (Mangifera indica) is the national tree of Bangladesh. The mango is native to South Asia, from where it has been distributed worldwide to become one of the most cultivated fruits in the tropics. The English word 'mango' originated from the the Malayalam word manna via Portuguese (also manga) during spice trade with Kerala in 1498.