Rajni Perera (born 1985) is a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, known for exploring how power works through the imagery of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

. She sees in science fiction a way of combating oppression which she combines with her ideas of revolution and social reform. Perera uses mixed media to actively engage in discussion with the viewing audience about the aesthetic treatment of gender and identity politics.

Biography

Born in Sri Lanka, Perera was raised between her homeland, Australia and Canada. Through British, U.S. and Japanese programming on television in Sri Lanka, she saw the animated

Robotech ''Robotech'' is a science fiction franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production and first released in the United States in 1985. The show was adapted from t ...

series and the work of

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

as well as American science fiction, which she viewed as military propaganda. In high school, she saw her first animated science fiction magazines which introduced her to the aesthetics of science fiction. While obtaining a B.F.A. in Drawing & Painting,

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

in Toronto, a white settler institution, she began to challenge the canon taught at OCAD and began looking at the style of miniaturist painting as well as her own influences for guidance in exploring the politics of the colored body. She critiques the legacies of exoticism and ethnography through figurative work which combined elements of science fiction, fantasy and magic-realism, as well as Indian miniatures. Some of her later work, particularly ''The Traveller'' series (2019), reflects her view of immigrants in the future, as superior and resilient beings. She researches the technology of clothing and emphasizes her painted figure's adornment and future-wear as protective armour. Dress is a powerful tool to exercise cultural resilence, she feels and adds, "I wouldn`t paint anything I wouldn`t wear in a moment".

Selected exhibitions

Her work has been exhibited at Tramway (Glasgow, 2020); Fondation Phi (Montreal, 2020); the

Robert McLaughlin Gallery The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a public art gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public art gallery in the Regional Municipality of Durham, of which Oshawa is a part. The gallery houses a significant collection of Canadian conte ...

(Oshawa, 2019); Chromatic Festival (Montreal, 2019);

MacKenzie Art Gallery The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; french: Musee d’art MacKenzie) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building holds e ...

(Regina, 2019) (with Nep Sidhu); the Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto, 2018); The MAM Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Art Metropole (Toronto, 2017); Gallery 44 (Toronto, 2017); the Art Gallery of

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

(Toronto, 2017); OTA Fine Arts (Tokyo, Japan 2017); Superchief Gallery (Brooklyn, USA, 2017); the Colombo Art Biennale (Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2016); Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE, 2016); Scope Basel, Scope Miami and the Art League Houston (Houston, USA, 2014); at the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture garde ...

(Kleinburg, Ontario, 2022) (her first survey show) and elsewhere. She is represented by Patel-Brown Gallery in Toronto, Galerie Hugues Charbonneau in Montreal, and Saskia Fernando Gallery in Colombo.

Selected videography and illustrations for books

Perera has been shown in videos discussing her work by the Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art (Montreal, 2020), in a video made by the

(Oshawa, 2019) on Facebook, in a video by the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

talking about her work in the collection, ''Fresh Air'' (Toronto, 2019), in a video made by ''

CanadianArt ''Canadian Art'' was a quarterly art magazine published in Toronto and focused on Canadian contemporary art. The magazine published profiles of artists, art news, interviews, editorials, and reviews of modern art exhibitions. Established in 1943 ...

'' Online, ''In The Studio with Rajni Perera'' (May 2017) and in a video made by the

for her show ''Futures'' (2022). In 2016, she illustrated a children's book by Vivek Shrava, '' The Boy & the Bindi''.

Awards

* Medal for Drawing and Painting,

OCAD Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

, 2011 *

York Wilson York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Endowment Award,

Canada Arts Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

, 2019 for the

for the purchase of ''Banner for New Empire 1'' by Rajni Perera * Ontario region finalist for Sobey Art Award, 2021 * MOCA Toronto Award, 2022

Personal life

Her distinctive artist's way of dressing has made ''Vogue'' magazine and ''Toronto Life''. She lives and works in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perera, Rajni 21st-century Canadian painters 21st-century Canadian sculptors 1985 births Living people Canadian people of Sri Lankan descent 21st-century Sri Lankan painters OCAD University alumni