Noopur: We are now in the Study area of Asia Art Archive’s library. Here, you can explore a collection of Mukherjee’s travel photos placed alongside photo-documents from her studio. These gave us a lot of insight into her research and references.

As we delved into the vast collection of photographs, we began identifying recurring patterns—elements that seemed to captivate Mukherjee's attention that she revisited repeatedly over the years. These patterns likely occupied her thoughts, serving as sources that she continuously revisited. With this, we also tried to make connections between her observations and her artworks.

During her time as a student in Baroda, Mukherjee embarked on documenting art historical sites and cultural practices. Encouraged by her teachers, she, like many other students, participated in the Living Traditions of India project, which aimed to bridge modern art practices with traditional art forms in the region. These early experiences laid the foundation for Mukherjee's own exploration and preoccupation, which intensified during her travels across India, Southeast Asia, and Europe in the 1980s and 1990s.

At the top of this scroll, you will see an enlarged photograph showing the growth of roots on an archaeological site in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Mukherjee had a keen interest in the overgrowth of plants and trees and the spiral forms of tendrils growing around architectural spaces. For us, it’s interesting to think of her fascination with these in connection with the open fibres and threads of her artmaking process.

Pallavi: Mukherjee held a keen fascination for the concept of space and architectural forms. In her collection of travel images, we stumbled upon numerous photographs of arches from various locations. One such site was Bara Kaman, located in Bijapur, Karnataka, in India. The enlarged image you see underneath the Angkor Wat photograph shows vertical columns topped with arches, located in an unfinished mausoleum. Interestingly, Mukherjee's work-in- process images taken in her studio, show the armatures that she used to construct her sculptures mimic these architectural forms.

Samira: She was also deeply invested in the idea of the “body”—human and otherwise. This is already evident in her work, but the archive further revealed to us how Mukherjee was deeply drawn to the dancing body, whether it was through her documentation of stone sculptures of dancing forms, or of live theatre and dance performances. At the bottom of this roll, you will see an image of a Kathakali dancer, in elaborate costume and make up, mid-stance. Kathakali is a classical dance form from Kerala, South India, and is a type of ritual storytelling. In one of her lecture notes, Mukherjee says that her sculptures try to evoke nature the same way that performing arts do, through stance, ornamentation, and affect.

Noopur: This brings us to the end of the exhibition. If you walk through the corridor and go to the computer station area, you can see books and postcards that we discovered while digitising Mukherjee’s archive in her studio. These provide us a glimpse into the original context of the archival material and, more importantly, reveal the readings and art practices that Mukherjee was drawn to, such as the practice of a prolific sculptor like Ramkinker Baij, the influence of the Living Traditions of India project, or the weavings and sculptural textiles of Sheila Hicks.

Mukherjee collected numerous postcards, which often served as a substitute for photography, as it was either too expensive or prohibited in many locations. The postcards encompass a wide range of subjects, from indigenous practices in Australia and the Polynesian islands to Renaissance art in Europe. We came across books on various topics such as indigenous weaving techniques, tapestry art from different regions of the world, histories of plants, and textile art.

Samira: We conclude the exhibition with these books and postcards from Mukherjee’s studio. We are so grateful that the process of archiving helped us understand Mukherjee’s practice and research in a nuanced way, and to re-consider the ways in which we experience her artwork. We invite you to browse these materials, and spend as much time with them as you’d like. Thanks so much for visiting us today.

Image: Ta Prohm Temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia, 1996. Mrinalini Mukherjee Archive, AAA Collections. Photo: Ranjit Singh and Mrinalini Mukherjee. Courtesy of Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation.