Mukherji photos dazzle, delight viewers
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Crossing species lines and embracing the animal kingdom and plant kingdom with equal conviction and clarity, his photos testify to the essential harmony of nature and the vital forces that shape our world. His art declares the divine in the lowliest of life forms, reminding us that God does not create without purpose.
Warren County’s cultural climate warmed up several degrees Saturday evening when Mukherji opened his month-long show of recent digital photographs at The Station-Pure Art, 200 North Spring Street. In terms of aesthetics and technical mastery, this exhibit raises local art standards by more than a few quantum leaps.
Entering the gallery’s front door, the visitor is immediately swept into the emotional current of Mukherji’s aesthetic. Stepping into the lobby, that visitor faces a much-larger-than-life photo of a trillium blossom exploding with an ethereal light, an illumination that seems to come from within, sprinkling its surrounding foliage with a few delicate photons.
Three elongated triangular planes, gently curved inward, define the trillium flower, which grows a few inches above ground in deep shade. Hiking through Rock Island State Park, Mukherji found the late-afternoon sun bathing one such blossom with a fleeting, captivating light. Stretching himself out on the ground and raising his macro lens to the trillium, he captured a moment of natural history that will never be repeated in exactly the same way.
Mukherji achieves a seemingly magical perfection of lighting, color and chiaroscuro in his photographic studies. The viewer could imagine he spends hours over a computer keyboard adjusting and re-adjusting the technical values of such works as “Tropical Florescence” and the full-length portrait of his granddaughter emerging from a barn into some rarefied light.
In another of the show’s main pieces, “Lotus in Moonlight,” the afterglow of a tropical day painted the purple blossom with an other-worldly luminescence. In this, as in his “Flaming Trillium” and all the other works on display, Mukherji used only the light naturally available at the moment, with no flashguns or reflectors and with no computer manipulation of the digital image. In the purist tradition, this is WYSIWYG photography: what you see (in the camera viewfinder) is what you get (on the gallery wall).
With the same reverence and intellectual earnestness he shows for the plant kingdom, Mukherji focuses his camera on the human as the crowning glory of the animal dominion.
A close-up study of a minor village chief in Kenya shows the strength and dignity of an 81-year-old man who, having experienced untold hardship and sorrow in life, dutifully bears the burden of leading his community into the uncertainties of the 21st century.
Another portrait offers a cheerful counterweight to the care-worn chieftain. Gorgeously arrayed in ceremonial collars containing thousands of colored beads, a teenage Samburu Kenyan girl with close-cropped hair seems happy to be the subject of another of Mukherji’s larger-than-life shots.
Each of the 68 pieces in the exhibit is a textbook example of technical excellence. But what puts distance between Mukherji’s works and those of other skilled photographers armed with top-end cameras and lenses is soul. Viewing this artist’s pieces, we never ask, “why this?” Each of his photos speaks for itself, justifying its existence. We could almost feel that our lives would not be quite complete if we had not seen this picture.
After centuries of environmental damage and degradation resulting from human activity, Mukherji’s art is a noble—hopefully not quixotic—attempt to preserve some of the most fragile elements of nature, like tiny flowers and people. His picture-taking leaves the subject completely undisturbed, undamaged and undiminished. This art obeys a main precept of the Hypocratic oath, a solemn obligation of newly graduated physicians: do no harm.
Mukherji’s photographs show a profound respect for all living things, even the lowliest blossom or leaf, energized by a tireless excitement in the discovery of new things, or at least new ways of looking at familiar objects. This month’s show at The Station Pure Art reminds us of the beauty and majesty of the natural world. And it in a wearisome, chaotic world, the exhibit is an oasis of gentleness, grace and harmony.
After 35 years of medical and surgical practice in McMinnville, Dr. Mukherji recently laid down his scalpel and announced his retirement, completing a distinguished career as one of the most honored and beloved physicians in recent memory. A grateful and admiring community wishes him many more years of achievement as a photographer of nature’s wonders.
As a gesture of appreciation for an honored colleague, physicians at River Park Hospital provided a splendid buffet as part of the show’s preview-night reception for Dr. Mukherji. Catering—that fine art of making sure everything is just right, and just in the right place at the right time—was expertly performed by Ann P. Boyd and her associates.
For information on public viewing hours at The Station—Pure Art, call Vickie Monroe Spivey, 931-473-0821.
Photos by Bill Zechman, Charles W. Johnson & Margaret Hobbs
Page layout by Seth Wright