Ranu Mukherjee makes hybrid work in painting, video and installation to build new imaginative capacities. She draws inspiration from the histories of collage, black feminist science fiction and Indian mythological prints of the late 19th century. She uses saturated color to amplify presence and sensuality. Her recent work reflects the forces of ecology and non-human agency, diaspora and migration, motherhood and transnational feminisms.
Ranu has produced commissioned projects for major institutions including the San Jose Museum of Art, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Asian Art Museum, and the de Young Museum. Her most recent installation was presented in the 2019 Karachi Biennale. Ranu is a Lucas Visual Arts Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center (2019-2022). She has been awarded residencies at 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles (2022), Facebook (2020-21, Space 118, Mumbai and De Young Museum. She has 25 years of experience working on collaborative multimedia projects, most notably through 0rphan Drift, a cyber-feminist collective and avatar she co-created in London in 1994. Mukherjee’s work is in the collections of Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, The Avery, Robert D. Bielecki Foundation, Kadist Foundation, JP Morgan, Oakland Museum of California and the San Jose Museum of Art. She is represented by Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco. She is an Associate Professor in Film and Fine Art at California College of the Arts.