Rajni Perera: Exploring Identities in Contemporary Art

Toronto multimedia artist Rajni Perera (1985) pulls from the shamanistic spiritual traditions of her native Sri Lanka, a country with vast and overlooked histories from its colonized past.

A figure dressed in patterned fabric sits on a concrete surface, entangled in red ropes, in a minimalist interior space with natural lighting. — Installation, ‘Gatekeeper’ for SB16 *To Carry*, the Sharjah Biennial 2025. Bait Al Serkaal, Sharjah. Curated by Natasha Ginwala.

Perera is a widely exhibited and frequently celebrated Canadian artist. Last month, it was announced she has been invited to the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, in the exhibition Minor Keys by Koyo Kouoh.

A person with long, curly hair stands beside a sculptural installation in a gallery with artworks on the wall. The person is wearing a light yellow and white dress and is posed near a smooth, round pedestal. — Perera at Rajiv Menon Contemporary in Los Angeles for Dhum Lōkaya (Smoke World) her first U.S solo exhibition

Her work explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestry, migrant and marginalized identities and cultures, as well as monstrous figures and dreamlike, science-fiction worlds. These themes come together to fuel explorations within a multimedia practice that includes drawing and painting, clay, wood, lanterns, new media sculpture, textile, and recently, synthetic taxidermy.

A large abstract sculpture suspended in an art gallery, featuring organic shapes and vibrant colors, with elongated protrusions and soft textures, reflecting an artistic interpretation of nature. — **Worm (Droid), 2024**, Polymer clay, styrofoam, foamcoat, steel, paper clay, synthetic hair, Installation view at the Phi Foundation, Montreal © PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art, photo: Richard-Max Tremblay

The artist weaves a new narrative history that draws from stories on pre-scientific astronomy, shamanism, and tribal and national histories to help us imagine ourselves embroiled in a rich tapestry of pasts and imagined futures – from Patel Brown

A modern art gallery featuring a round white pedestal with a blue and white patterned sculpture resembling a seated figure. In the background, two artworks are displayed: one is an abstract blue shape on a wall, and the other is a colorful painting of a figure with a ribbon on a brown background. — From the Group Exhibition It Comes to me in Waves, Riding Blind and Smokeshow

A stylized illustration of a woman with her eyes covered by a blue patterned blindfold, featuring flowing hair and a ruffled collar, set against a golden background. — From the Group Exhibition It Comes to me in Waves, Riding Blind and Smokeshow

Above, from It Comes to Me in Waves, a group exhibition at Patel Brown, here.

Below, a selection of works/installations.

A modern art installation with a pink structure and flowing fringes, set on green grass against an ivy-covered brick wall. — Vimana (N1 Starfighter) at Toronto Sculpture Garden, 2024-25, commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art

Vimana (N1 Starfighter) – Toronto Biennial of Art

This sculpture is the latest in a series of spacecraft lanterns that draw inspiration from mainstream science fiction and traditional Buddhist Vesak kūdu. The lanterns are historically made from bamboo and rice paper and are constructed with symbolic geometry; Perera’s modern rendition features plywood and translucent acrylic lit with LED lights. The work explores themes of spacefaring and immigration, incorporating the Sanskrit term vimāna (which has various meanings related to flying) to challenge Western narratives of advanced aerospace technology. (Source)

Art installation featuring a pink canopy with hanging fringe elements, set against a brick wall and surrounded by trees.

More on this SoundCloud piece about Starfighter, created in the the style of lanterns made in Sri Lanka during harvest time. Toronto Biennal site here.

The Vessel with Two Mouths

From the exhibition at Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto, 2023 (source)

A large, abstract sculpture resembling a humanoid figure in an inverted position, made of a textured, orange material. In the background, a fabric panel displays various stylized, abstract designs, including fluid shapes and colorful patterns.

The Vessel with Two Mouths places Perera within a research methodology that investigates her fascination with the unseen. The exhibition displays a non-linear progression of her practice that embodies the origins of her ancestry and linkages to Sri Lankan cultural and spiritual traditions.

An art installation featuring two large hanging textile artworks on white walls. One artwork depicts a stylized figure with a dynamic pose and colorful accents, while the other displays abstract geometric shapes. In the center, a white pedestal showcases sculptural pieces.

Influenced by a month-long residency in her home country of Sri Lanka with her daughter, this new body of work represents the artist’s longing for an ancestral home, and renegotiates her diasporic relationship to her heritage. Perera’s desire to build a practice that emerges from the earth and its underbelly produces new material forms, which invite us to revisit our relationships to the traditions that inform our lives and ancestries. – Rajni Perera and curator Sayem Khan writing about the Patel Brown exhibition.

Acquired by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)

A Starry-eyed Subspecies, 2022-2023

A sculpture featuring a horse and two figures, one wearing traditional clothing and the other in casual attire, set amidst tall grasses. The background has a soft gradient of pink and purple. — A Starry-eyed Subspecies, Polyurethane foam, wood, cow hair, polymer clay, epoxy clay, synthetic weave, polyester, cotton, dried grass, synthetic grass, acrylic paint

From the museum : Recently acquired by the MMFA, this monumental work revisits the diorama—a type of simulated scene mounted by natural history and civilization museums to illustrate different ways of life and document distant, sometimes extinct, customs and traditions. Perera shakes up this concept by resolutely shifting her gaze towards the future and creating triumphant alternative worlds (more on Instagram).

A close-up of a mannequin wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a patterned scarf, with a face featuring abstract paint designs.

Two figures in unique clothing against a pastel pink sky; the front figure wears a traditional outfit with a wrapped head and glasses, while the figure in the background is dressed in a hat and jacket.

A Starry-eyed Subspecies makes reference to climate change and population displacement, yet it is not pessimistic, the museum says. The artist chose instead to address these themes from a place of resilience, adaptation and survival.

An artist painting on a large canvas featuring a surreal figure with multiple limbs, in an art studio.

Above and below, Canadian artist David Hartman Profiles Rajni Perera’s Practice in New Short Film (link to the McMichael Exhibition here)

Perera has a BFA in Drawing & Painting, OCAD University. She is widely exhibited internationally and in Canada, her works are held in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Sobey Foundation, and the Musée De Beaux Arts De Montréal.

Ranji Perera’s website, here

A list of her exhibitions, here.

Her Instagram, here.