MALA MUKERJEE
MALA MUKERJEE
Mala launched her professional career in 1986. Her work appeared in India in newspapers and periodicals such as Swagat, Desh, Discover India, Frontline, Insight Guide, Indian Express, Inner Eye, Namaste, Sananda, Signature, Sportstar, Times of India etc., and also abroad in the BBC Bulletin, The Cricketer and the India Weekly Journal in London; in ‘Close Up’, an Australian sports magazine,in a German tourist guide titled ‘Indien’, and also in several books and book covers in India and abroad.Her iconic picture of the last ball of the historic tied test cricket match at Chennai in 1986 between India and Australia is featured in books by several eminent Sports writers such as Mike Coward (2015), Michael Sexton (2019) and Dan Liebke (2021).
She taught Photography at The School, KFI, Chennai, during 1986/1989. In 1993 she graduated in Applied Art and Design Studies at the London Guildhall University. In London, she was awarded the Art Prize by the Owen Rowley Art Foundation in 1993. She was also among the prize winners in ‘Our Big City’ competition organized jointly by the Evening Standard Newspaper Group and Carlton TV in London in 1993. In 1994 she was nominated for the Leopold Godowsky Jr. colour photography Awards of the Photographic Resource Centre, Boston. In 2007, The Academy of Visual Media, New Delhi, awarded Mala their “Achievement Award” for outstanding contribution to Photography. She received an award at the Second China International Digital Photography Exhibition in 2011. The Bangladesh Photographic Society awarded her an Honorary Fellowship in 2014.
In 2002 BLINK, a publication by the Phaidon Press, London, featured her among 100 contemporary Photographers of the world. Mala conducted Workshops on Colour Photography at Dhaka and Sylhet in 2003 at the invitation of Drik, Bangladesh. In 2006 she was invited by the Peoples’ Republic of China to a photo-event titled “Xinjiang in the eyes of Chinese and Foreign photographers”, and again in 2011 in Lishui to participate in Seminars and exhibitions organized by the China International Photography Museum and Gallery Alliance, of which she is a member. She was featured in Dr Alka Pande’s book titled 108 Portraits of Indian Photography, 2024.
She has co-authored books on Kolkata’s heritage titled ‘Colonial Calcutta, Religious Architecture as a Mirror of Empire’ (Bloomsbury 2012), ‘Where Gods Reside : Sacred places of Kolkata’ (Niogi Books 2018) and ‘Adda : The College Street Coffee House’ (Notion Press, 2020).
Mala has held Solo exhibitions at : Cottons Centre London 1991&1992, St.Giles Church Oxford 1993, Sakshi Gallery Bangalore 1994, Y.B.Chavan Art Gallery Mumbai 1995, B.C.D. Gallery-Mumbai 1995, Sakshi Gallery Chennai 1995, Birla Academy Art Gallery Kolkata 1995, Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai 1995, The Piramal Gallery Mumbai 1996, Lalit Kala Akademi New Delhi 1997, IIC Gallery New Delhi 1998, Lalit Kala Akademi Chennai 1999, Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai 1999, La galerie de l’AllianceFrançaise de Dhaka – Bangladesh 2000, Birla Academy Art Gallery Kolkata 2001, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata, Gallerie Zen Bangalore 2002, Nandan Gallery Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan 2002, Academy of Fine arts Kolkata 2004, Gorky Sadan- Kolkata 2004, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata 2006, IIC Gallery New Delhi 2006, Apparao Infinity Gallery New Delhi 2007, AkarPrakar Gallery Kolkata 2007, Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata 2007, Nehru Centre Art Gallery Mumbai in 2008, Nandan Gallery Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan 2008, Academy of Fine Art-Kolkata 2008, Festival of Tinou, Tino’s Island, Greece 2012, Qinghai Int’l Photography Art Festival, Xining, China, 2012, duets with a painter at Bengal Art Gallery, ICCR, Kolkata in January 2013 and HirjiJehangir Gallery, Mumbai in Februay 2013, and a solo show at the India International Centre, Delhi in April 2013; Apparao Gallery, Chennai, February 2015, Dakhshinachitra, Chennai, August 2015, Ramsay Arts Festival, Cambridge, UK,September 2015, at Maya Arts Space, Kolkata in September 2015, at Lishui Photography Festival, China in November 2015 at Wonderwall Gallery, Lado Sarai, New Delhi, in September 2016, at MKF Museum, Bangalore in June 2019,In 2021, virtual exhibitions at IIC New Delhi in July titled “Fleeting FootprintsofLife” and in October at Wonderwall Gallery, New Delhi, titled "Echoes of our Times", and in February 2023 at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
Mala participated in several Group Shows in London during 1991/1993. Also at “Women ’96”, an Art Front Group show at the Jehangir Art Gallery Mumbai and in Group exhibitions at the Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Mumbai 1997, Y.B. Chavan Art Gallery Mumbai 1998, Academy of Fine Arts Calcutta 2001, Guildhall University London 2001, Cancer Foundation exhibition at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata 2005, ‘Kolkata Festival’ of Times of India at Town Hall Kolkata 2006, AVM Photography Award 2006 at the AIFACS, New Delhi, and in exhibitions organized by the Chinese Embassy in 2007 at the Birla Academy Art Gallery, Kolkata, and at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, in “The Four Seasons in Xinjiang Photo Exhibition” organised by The Chinese Photographic Association in Beijing in March 2007 , Birla Academy Art Gallery in April 2009, ‘Urban India through the lens” at Habitat Centre in Sept 2009, International Artists Exhibition, Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2010, the 44th Annual Exhibition at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata in January 2011, International exhibition titled “One Nest” at Birla Academy of Art and Culture in October 2011 which was curated by her;at Photography Museum of China at Lishui in November 2011, Piramal Gallery, NCPA, Mumbai in 2012, Boichitra Gallery, Kolkata in 2012, Kala Ghoda Art Festival, Art Entrance Gallery, Mumbai in February 2012 , Masters of Indian Photography Archival Exhibition, NCPA, Mumbai in 2012, Kolkata Photo Festival at ICCR, Kolkata and at Lishui Photography Museum, Lishui, China, in 2013, at SoiMela-BoiMela at ICCR Kolkata, November 2013, at Maya Art Space, Kolkata 2013, at the IPMGA international photo festival at ICCR Kolkata 2014, at Wonderwall, Lado Sarai, New Delhi in October 2015, in 2016 at India Art Fair, New Delhi and at the Festival of Arts 2016 organized by the India International Centre, New Delhi; in 2017 at the India Art Fair, Delhi, at the Birla Academy Art Gallery, Kolkata and a selected exhibitor at Lens Mens International Foto-festival at Overpelt, Belgium; in 2018, at the India Art Fair, Delhi, Hindustan Times 'Imagine Fest' at the Nehru Gardens, New Delhi, at the Kolkata International Photo Festival, Kolkata,at the Academy of Creative Art, Kolkata;in November 2019,at the Lishui Photography Festival, China, and in 2020 in Maya Art Space, Kolkata and at the Delhi Art Fair ; In February 2022 at Maya Art Space, at the India Art Fair, Delhi, in April 2022, in the " Cities of the World" International Photography Exhibition(FIAP World Photographers Conference) at Lishui, China in November 2022, Slide shows at Dhaka and Narayangunj in November 2022, in May 2023 at Disharee Art Space, Kolkata and in Jan 2024 at the India Ar Fair, New Delhi.
Mala was the Chairperson of the 2nd Congress of the International Photographic Museum and Gallery Alliance (IPMGA) and organized an international photo exhibition in February 2014 in Kolkata at the ICCR, led a team of 5 photographers to a trip to Yunnan province and held a show at Birla Academy Art Gallery in March 2015 sponsored by the Consulate General of PRC, Kolkata. In May 2016, she led another team of 3 Photographers to Beijing and to Mount Jihuashan Hills on a photographic project sponsored by the Consulate General of PRC, Kolkata.
Her work has been acquired by many Institutional collectors such as : Alliance Française de Dhaka, Archives of Centre For Photography As An Art Form at NCPA Mumbai, Archives of Metropolitan University London, India International Centre, New Delhi, JBNSTS, Kolkata and by Corporate bodies such as ABN Amro Bank Mumbai, Alliance Capital Inc, New York, Apcon Ltd Chennai, Carborandum Universal, Chennai, Delhi Development Authority, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, ICI Ltd Mumbai, ICICI Bank, Indian Oil Corpn. Kolkata, Office of the C & A.G New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi, Quality Audit & Services, Kolkata, Standard Chartered Bank Mumbai and Wooltop Weaves Pte Ltd., Chennai and Louis Vuitton, New Delhi.The Permanent Gallery of Arts Acre, New Town, Kolkata features several of her works.
Her work is presently on display at www.malaphotogallery.com
E.mail: malamukerjee@gmail.com
Debi Apts, 4th Floor, 487 Keyatala Road, Kolkata 700029
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