PENUMBRA WORKSPACE PROGRAM | New York City-Based Artist | 2024
Cheryl MukherJI
Image © Cheryl Mukherji. Courtesy of the artist.
“Inspired by matrimonial photographs of my grandmothers, aunts, and mother within my family albums, I reimagine the tradition by staging self-portraits within my domestic space that often evoke Indian photo studios, expanding the boundaries of public and private. Historically, the traditional matrimonial photograph has acted as a visual currency exchanged between families, wherein the prospective bride is expected to perform her desirability, femininity, and domesticity for the male suitor through prescribed gestures and good looks, which comply with Eurocentric beauty standards, the colonial imagination, and the male gaze.”
Cheryl Mukherji is an Indian visual artist and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. In her work, Cheryl explores the idea of origin and inheritance, which is embedded in the figure of her mother and her presence in the family album, using photography, text, video, and printmaking.
Cheryl was the winner of the 97th Annual at the Print Center, Philadelphia, 2023 and a finalist at the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, 2022 at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Stoneleaf Retreat, 2023, Center for Photography at Woodstock, 2022, and Baxter Street at Camera Club of New York, 2021. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions at the Museum of the City of New York (US), PHOTOFAIRS (US), The Print Center (US), National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian (US), Baxter St. at Camera Club of New York (US), Capture Photography Festival (CA), Minnesota Museum of American Art (US), Huxley-Parlour Gallery (UK), Format Photo Festival (UK), Brooklyn Museum (US), Museum of Moving Image (US), International Center of Photography (US), Serendipity Arts Festival (IN), among others. Cheryl’s works are in collections at the Harvard Art Museums and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She holds an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from ICP-Bard College, New York, 2020.
SPONSORS
This program is supported by Henry Nias Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, and Roz Leibowitz.
