Rajni Perera: Futures

Art Windsor-Essex respectfully acknowledges that we are located on Anishinaabe Territory – the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of First Nations, comprised of the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. Today the Anishinaabe of the Three Fires Confederacy are represented by Bkejwanong. We want to state our respect for the ancestral and ongoing authority of Walpole Island First Nation over its Territory.

Rajni Perera’s work offers a vision charged with humour and sharp critique, hope and dread.

Rajni Perera is one of Canada’s most promising contemporary multimedia artists. Experimenting with mediums as varied as painting, sculpture and photography, the Toronto-based artist expresses her vision of imagined futures in which mutated subjects exist in dystopian realms.

Drawing deeply on the artistic traditions of her birthplace, Sri Lanka, as well as Indian miniature painting, medieval armour and science fiction, Perera has created a body of work that spans feminist and diasporic themes, while contemplating survival in an environmentally degraded future.

Perera’s work responds to existential threats with creativity and invention, offering a vision charged with humour and sharp critique, hope and dread. Underscored by current global affairs and accelerated climate change, Perera’s vision is as timely as it is compelling.

Futures includes works from all phases of the artist’s career, including new pieces made specifically for this exhibition. Early examples of Perera’s mutated goddesses are displayed in concert with her more recent abstractions and sculptures.

The accompanying publication features an interview of the artist by exhibition curator Sarah Milroy, as well as essays by leading international literary figures Fariha Roisin and Britt Wray.