Cheryl Mukherji

b. 1995 India

Based in New York (United States of America)

‘My work is an exploration of my origin and inheritance, which is embedded in the figure of my mother. It deals with memory, transgenerational trauma, personal and collective histories, and how they inform identity. Using interdisciplinary mediums – including photography, installations, printmaking, writing, and video – I centre and engage with women’s presence and experiences in the family albums that I brought with me from India to the United States when I immigrated. 

Overall, my practice is inspired by family albums as an archive, and very specifically by my relationship with my mother. A primary instrument of self-knowledge and representation, these albums celebrate success, leaving out depictions of trauma, grief, and mourning from its pages to perpetuate the myth of an Ideal Family. Like a manifesto, they declare their intentions and motives through candid or staged photographs. In my practice, family albums are an entry into domestic labour: not the washing of dishes or the house cleaning, but the work it takes to stay related to someone, even my mother.’

cherylmukherji.com
instagram.com/cherylmukherji

Image: Cheryl Mukherji, Self-Portrait with Maa (2), 2020, from the series Ghorer Bairer Aalo © Cheryl Mukherji 

Bringing together 66 artists from across the world, Photo Elysée recently celebrated emerging talent with the exhibition Gen Z: Shaping a New Gaze. As media partner, 1000 Words is featuring the work and accompanying texts of all participating artists in our weekly column dedicated to new voices in contemporary photography.