Artist Dhananjay Mukherjee personifies flora in godly figures

Green is the colour of life.

But human beings, through ages, have exploited it without understanding how pristine and important it is for life on earth.

Artist Dhananjay Mukherjee, in his unique set of paintings titled The Green God urges people to respect it by personifying the flora in godly images and figures.

“I got the idea for this theme from the trees, flowers and the leaves around me. Somehow they appear to be forming an imagery which looks very much like a human face or an animal shape or form,” says Mukherjee. He believes that nature is God and brings out the serenity by carving out the divine face that forms in natural and delicate manner.

The different faces in Mukherjee’s paintings are carved out of a leaf with various motifs forming the eyes and lips. “Nature gives us everything we need in our life. Yet we never return the favour,” he says.

The purpose of his paintings is to inculcate faith in nature. “If you just go and preach to people to value the gifts that nature has given us, then nobody is going listen to you. It sounds jaded! But interestingly, in India if you want to get something into people’s head then a God’s statue or form works instantly,” he says.

“I believe with my paintings I can bring people to see the divinity inside every green form, be it a plant, a tree trunk or even a leaf,” adds Dhananjay.