The fine balance of two contradictory worlds

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She deals with taxes and finances at work, beyond that, the canvas and the brush strokes get her maximum attention. Income-Tax commissioner Bratati Mukherjee follows a simple mantra.

“If one is sincere and hardworking, striking a balance between your profession and passion, is certainly possible. After a day’s hard labour, I unwind by turning to painting,” she points out.
Bratati discovered her artistic inclination quite early in life. She recalls, “Since my childhood, I felt an urge to depict whatever I saw around me and dreaming about. Being in the State Civil Services, my father had to move from one district headquarters to another. Hence, I spent a sizeable period of my childhood in various district towns. I particularly remember Jalpaiguri and the Teesta River in its vicinity, the boulders strewn on the banks of the river, the jungles and the pristine beauty of the Himalayas fascinated and devoured me.”
However, Bratati’s tryst with art did not exactly begin on a smooth note. “Coming from a middle-class family, the idea of becoming a full-time artist was frowned upon by the parents in those days. Academics remained a top priority, but for me, painting was not far behind in the list either,” She confesses. Bratati’s resolve to make room for both paid off well. Soon after graduating from the prestigious Presidency College in Kolkata, she joined the Indian Revenue Service, and is presently chief commissioner of Income-Tax in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, her paintings and drawings started making an impression among art enthusiasts. Gradually, the art galleries also starting opening their door and since 2000, Bratati has been exhibiting as a solo artist and also in group shows in Kolkata, as well as Mumbai’s Jehangir Art Gallery and Gallery Damayanti in New Delhi.
Speaking about the thought behind her creations, Bratati says, “My paintings portray certain images, through which I try to transgress boundaries of the observer’s conscious mind and touch the subconscious level. Moreover, issues including the erosion of values in every sphere of modern life,
greed of human kind to exploit nature without a single thought for the
environmental degradation and sufferings of the majority of the human beings who are below the poverty line, have a deep impact on my psyche. I pour my anguish out on the canvas, and also feel immensely rejuvenated after putting my pain, anguish and
anxiety on canvas.
Painting is a cathartic experience!”
Her latest work, The Reclining Monk has also given her an avenue to vent out her emotions. “Pain can sometimes be the fodder for creativity. I lost both my parents last year in quick succession. I had taken care of them throughout my life and their death left a huge void in me. In the last few years of their lives, they were suffering from various ailments and there were marked symptoms of Alzheimer’s, which became acute with time. Their condition pained me and I felt like a powerless witness to their journey into some other world. No amount of medication and affection had any effect. In my painting The Reclining Monk, I see the shadow of my parents. Here, the ‘falling leaves’ is a recurrent theme. I perceive it as the transient nature of our lives. It had a deep impact on my soul, as I was looking for solace and succor in the arms of Mother Nature.” The Reclining Monk was recently exhibited at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata.