Noopur: Welcome to Asia Art Archive’s library in Hong Kong. I am Noopur Desai, and I am a Researcher at Asia Art Archive in India. I’m pleased to introduce our exhibition that brings together the work and archival materials of one of the most prominent sculptors from India, Mrinalini Mukherjee. The personal archive of Mukherjee was launched in 2022, after over two years of organisation and digitisation. Our team’s immersive engagement with Mukherjee’s archive set the ground for  “mould the wing to match the photograph,“  the exhibition that you are standing in right now.

During the 1970s, sculptures were typically pedestal-based and made of durable materials like bronze or marble. However, Mukherjee challenged the norm by embracing unconventional materials like jute and hemp. Her sculptures took on monumental, larger-than-life forms, resembling effigies. In the 1990s and 2000s, she expanded her practice to include materials like ceramic and bronze.

As you step into the library’s lounge area, you’ll find one of Mukherjee’s awe-inspiring sculptures, titled Pari, which loosely translates to nymph or otherworldly being. Drawing on local myths and iconographies, Mukherjee transformed them into monumental representations. This work was produced in 1986 and represents an extraordinary example of Mukherjee’s experimental and improvisatory knotting technique, which she developed over many years. She used natural and readily available materials like hemp, which were then chemically dyed to produce this remarkable figure.

Here, I invite you to move closer to the artwork to observe its intricate knotting techniques, as well as the rope’s textures and fading colours as a result of exposure to varied weather conditions. I was particularly struck by the change in the colour and texture of this sculpture in comparison to its photo-documentation that we encounter in the archive.

In front, you can see a set of contact sheets for Pari and other sculptures by Mukherjee. 

Pallavi: I’m Pallavi Arora, and I’m a Research Assistant at Asia Art Archive in India. My role involves the wonderfully tedious task of scanning, annotating, and uploading archival materials. 

We wanted to juxtapose Pari, the artwork that Noopur talked about, with the contact sheets from Mukherjee’s archive. You will see these materials right before you enter through the library door, and also right after you walk into the Reading Room.

These photographs were taken in succession with extremely minute and imperceptible shifts in angles. At times it’s hard to tell that they’re different. In fact, viewing multiple photographs of a single artwork not only multiplies the impact of the work but also highlights the excessive volume of photo-documentation in Mukherjee’s archive, creating a powerful emotional resonance comparable to her single, auratic artwork.

If you look at the contact sheets closely, you will see that they bear markings made by the artist herself. Some of these markings have been blown up and are presented alongside the contact sheets. With this display, we wanted to provide insight into Mukherjee’s decision-making process.

Samira: I’m Samira Bose, and I’m a Curator at Asia Art Archive in India. I would like to talk more about the excessive documentation of Mukherjee's work. This documentation serves a dual purpose. First, it ensures that the shape and dimensions of her sculptures are preserved. This is important, considering the ephemeral nature of her materials. Second, it highlights the significance of photography and photo-documentation in her artistic practice. Mukherjee employed these images as a means to study her own work. Through these photographs, she was able to explore different ways to display her artworks, experimenting with installation heights from the ceiling or above the floor. These meticulously captured photographs also serve as precise reference points for the installation process, as we will see in the installation instructions.

In this section, you’ll encounter two videos. They feature a selection of images from the contact sheets, where Mukherjee appears for a split-second, before disappearing again. In displaying the contact sheets in rapid succession, we wanted to showcase our own experience of the archive. We were so immersed in the materials, we almost felt haunted by them. At times, the artist would unexpectedly appear amidst the posthumous archive, almost like a spectre.

Image: Contact sheet of Mrinalini Mukherjee’s fibre works, 1977–1986. Mrinalini Mukherjee Archive, AAA Collections. Courtesy of Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation.