The Beauty of Women's Hair is Showcased in Photo Exhibit

A woman’s hair is her crowning glory someone once said and noted photographer Nilangana “Olive” Banerjee explores this notion and more in the upcoming photo exhibit “Stress Tress.” The exhibition is set to tour next year. A preview is now online at www.NilanganaBanerjee.com.

“This series of images depict my journey of capturing my hair, as a metaphor for my stress, conflict, and psychological mind state,” Banerjee said. “The images also reflect the incorporation of the abstract artistic element, the hair with a camera-less photography technique, giving rise to color and black & white photograms.”

The compelling images originate from the technique called photogram which creates a photographic image without the use of a camera by placing objects directly onto the surface of photographic paper or other light-sensitive material and then exposing it to light.

With her own hair as the subject, the images show the substance and flow of hair as well as its own innate beauty brought out by the esoteric style of photogram imagery. Using color to great effect, Banerjee brings out the softness and flow of hair in each image to showcase the simplicity, beauty and motion of a woman’s hair.

“I wanted to emphasize the unique patters, forms, and density of my hair, considering the opacity of the subject, in determining the variations in the highlights and shadows,” she said. “Through these photograms, I also wanted to showcase the nature of hair in general, as they usually get messy, tangled and get all over the place just as a disturbed human psyche.”

Born in Mumbai, India, Banerjee always had a passion for photography, thanks to her father’s love for photography. Today, she is among the most respected commercial and corporate photographers in the country, focusing primarily in her specialized fields of architecture/interiors and industrial/corporate photography. Her clients have included Sheraton Hotels, celebrity chef Debb Michael, Lexicon Media and many others.

Most recently, her work appeared in VICE Magazine, Good Homes India and many others. She also served as principal photographer in the book The Paleo Secret,” published last June. For more on Nilangana “Olive” Banerjee, please visit www.NilanganaBanerjee.com.