Rajni Perera

Fantastical imagery a response to existential threats.

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In 1965, American author Frank Herbert published Dune, a science fiction novel about the inhospitable desert planet Arrakis. It quickly became one of the most popular sci-fi books of all time. The story has spawned two major feature films,  the splendid 2021 version directed by Canadian Denis Villeneuve and the much-panned 1984 movie by American David Lynch.

Toronto artist Rajni Perera is a huge fan of science fiction. It’s safe to say the timeless, vividly painted figures in her nationally touring exhibition, Futures, would be at home on a movie set for Dune or some other sci-fi fantasy. The show, on view until Sept. 3 at the Carleton University Art Gallery, depicts mainly fierce warrior women, often with egg-shaped heads, amid apocalyptic swirls in landscapes even more forbidding than those of Arrakis. Her mixed-media works carry titles such as Flood and Storm, reflecting Perera’s concerns about climate change.

Yet the exhibition is far from preachy or dreary. Instead, it is filled with powerful images that display joy and sly humour. The painted women seem ready to leap off the wall to challenge visitors to a sword fight or, maybe, to try some unusual yoga poses.

Many of the figures wear gas masks, far more elaborate vintage models than the high-tech minimalist ones used by humans visiting Villeneuve’s oxygen-starved Arrakis. Two of Perera’s retro masks are displayed as stand-alone sculptures, like artifacts from an ancient civilization on a planet far, far away.

The women’s outfits and stylized poses exude a definite South Asian aesthetic, reflecting Perera’s Sri Lankan heritage and her interest in Indian miniature painting. The garments simultaneously look futuristic and ancient.

Perera was born in Sri Lanka but, while she was still a child, the family moved to Australia, the United States and, finally, Canada. Surely, for a young child, moving to such disparate places was filled with as much wonder as that experienced by space travellers landing on strange planets.

In her art, Perera is preoccupied with several issues, among them, feminism, environmental degradation and human migration. Her work, whether in painting, photography, sculpture, textiles or mixed media, often reflects all these preoccupations simultaneously. While most works display a single figure, there is much to ponder, layer upon layer.

The exhibition includes examples from several bodies of work Perera has done since 2018, including the Dancers and Traveller series. There are also new works, including Three Archers, full-length portraits of three female combatants, each armed with bow and arrows, ready for battle. The fight could be in Star Wars or maybe in the 16th-century Mughal Empire. (Medieval armour is another of Perera’s obsessions.) The past and the future collide continuously in her art.

Sarah Milroy, chief curator of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., organized the exhibition, which opened there last November. The tour itinerary is not firm yet, but is expected to include Windsor and Hamilton in Ontario this year, Joliette and Rimouski in Quebec next year, and possibly Surrey, B.C., in 2025.

Nationally touring solo exhibitions by artists with a South Asian background and aesthetic are rare. But the Canadian art world is waking up to the fact that many accomplished artists of South Asian ancestry are working in this country. A good example is Divya Mehra, a Winnipeg-based artist of Indian descent who won the 2022 Sobey Art Award. Her most famous creation is an inflatable Taj Mahal, similar to the bouncy castles made for children. Perera was a Sobey runner-up in 2021.

People of South Asian lineage represent about seven per cent of Canada’s population yet their inclusion in the exhibition programs and collections of Canadian art institutions is often non-existent. That will surely change as leading curators, like Milroy, increasingly give artists from diverse backgrounds a national platform. So, expect to see more from Perera in coming years. Meanwhile, Villeneuve is preparing to unveil Dune: Part Two in November. ■

Rajni Perera: Futures at the Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa from May 28 to Sept. 3, 2023. Curated by Sarah Milroy.

Correction June 2, 2023, 12:35 p.m. An earlier version of this article misstated details about the Three Archers. All three figures are female. The post has been updated to reflect this.

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