Rina Banerjee
Sculptures and Role Models (from the hands of Rina Banerjee)
Rina Banerjee in Her New York City Studio
Image Courtesy of Case Western Reserve University. Photography: Erin Patrice O’Brien.
“Banerjee expounds a ferocity of freedom that shatters binaries and advocates for a new, independent form of identity that ebbs, flows, and morphs over time.”
– Rhea Khanna
An Article by Guest Writer: Rhea Khanna
Sometimes role models are people. Michelle Obama, Kobe, RBG—these are some of the names we christen as inspirations; the liberated joy they conjure up from their craft spreads through us, pieces of tinder caught in a wildfire. A spark for a spark with an ember of hope that one day, we might master the blazing element ourselves.
Humans not only make great role models, but we tend to make up the majority of contenders during role-model-playoff season as well. But sometimes—and stay with me here—role models can be sculptures too. Sculptures that you look up to. Sculptures you want to grow up to be. Rhythmic material forms of effect singing songs in new languages and dancing with delight. You’re starstruck, inspired, and honestly—who am I kidding—jealous even (but the positive kind that doesn't seethe green).
Photo Courtesy of San Jose Museum of Art
Take me, take me, take me... to the Palace of love
Rina Banerjee
Apparently, my love for sculpture starts with my horoscope—I’m a Taurus rising, so to astrologers, ofcooouurse I'd be a sculpture fanatic. It's in my natal chart, after all. But despite what the stars say, we can make our own destinies. So, Taurus or not, I invite us to welcome the possibility of connection with material souls. Textural icons that can give us the guidance we so often look for in beings other than art. And the sculptures that fuel me? Well, they’re flamboyant. They’re confident. They’re enlightened and unrestrained. They’re Rina Banerjee’s army of spirited, all-seeing beasts— sculptures that are so alive, you doubt your own consciousness. Seriously, can my pulse lie to me?
Calcutta-born, London-raised, now a New Yorker, Rina Banerjee pulls from her polychromatic identity to make sculptures of numberless forms and shades. There are no extremes, but instead a conscious wholeness. Sculptures that are everything they ever wanted to be. Sculptures that ask us if we're everything we want to be...
Through her practice and experience in the diaspora, Banerjee expounds a ferocity of freedom that shatters binaries and advocates for a new, independent form of identity that ebbs, flows, and morphs over time. An empowering opposition to labels, designations, or coercion to perform. Hold up, can’t you hear the growing notes of Queen’s “I want to break free”?
Photo Courtesy of Hosfelt Gallery
Friendly Fire signal to me...
Rina Banerjee
Photo Courtesy of The Fowler Museum at UCLA
Installation view, Make Me a Summary of the World, Fowler Museum at UCLA
Rina Banerjee
“Banerjee’s sculptures illuminate a new reality. A coming together based not on erasure, but a generosity between the East and West.”
– Rhea Khanna
Meticulously brewing a concoction of dualities, Banerjee's sculptures illuminate a new reality. A coming together based not on erasure, but a generosity between the East and West. Compassion between the local and global. And a code of honor between fairytale and fright.
Fearlessly challenging post-colonial identity-making and cultural fragmentation, Banerjee and her battalion are like multicultural, norm-breaking superheroes. The kind Marvel & DC both need more of. From taxidermy alligators and ostrich eggs, to shells, bulbs, and Indian saris, each material is like its own infinity stone.
As Banerjee investigates an entanglement of environmentalism, gender, immigration, and racial inequity, her sculptures offer a vision of unrestrained mobility. No, this isn't idealism, it's sculptural bravery. It’s encouragement that acknowledges our ugly realities, and persistently thrives and coexists. It's hope in the form of fabrics and textures, that instead of wording their way through our skeptic hearts, feel their way through.