The American Midwest and a sleepy city in Haryana, artist Joya Mukerjee Logue straddles two different worlds. Born in Ohio to an Indian-Bengali father and American mother, home holds dual meanings for her—a young girl of mixed race who embraced a country that promises the American Dream, and another where she finds comfort in memories in a dusty world peopled with ancestors.
Her first solo in India titled those who walk before me at the Vadehra Gallery in Delhi speaks of the second one—the dimly lit and winding lanes of Ambala. “Presenting my paintings for the first time in India is important to me as it connects the art, the muse and my mixed heritage,” says the 47-year-old artist.
It didn’t take her long to put together the show: just about seven months ago. But her themes concern decades, maybe centuries. They explore the topography of her ancestral village, the house, the surrounding streets and the generations of family who called that place entire home. Modern artists often explore their heritage, perhaps because it is easy and personal and also because it is a journey to understanding themselves and the cultural centre of gravity that gives them a place among small histories.
