Expo Chicago 2024
Booth of Patel Brown Gallery, text by Sayem Khan:
Patel Brown introduces a solo presentation of new works in the series Mosquito Net by multidisciplinary artist Rajni Perera at the 2024 edition of Expo Chicago. Through a process akin to critical fabulation, Rajni Perera preciously uncouples Sri Lanka’s vast and overlooked histories from their colonized past. Perera 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.
In this body of work, Perera finds herself meaningfully developing her personal relationship with the mythologies that are characteristic of spiritual practices, such as Yaku Tovil, in Sri Lanka. Defined by shamans, black magic, exorcisms, and cleansing rituals, these traditions inform the imagery in the works materially in their ornamentation, aesthetics, and thematic qualities. Playing into the spiritually resonant themes of her work, the works in this series are all depicted at sunset, a time when many Global South traditions across racial, religious, spiritual, and geographical boundaries consider asacred time for spiritual resonances across our mortal plane.
Joyous procession / Infinite Serpent | acrylic gouache, polymer clay, gold thread, charcoal, chalk and pearls on polyester | 5’ X 7’ X 2. Image Courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery.
Detail, Joyous Procession / Infinite Serpent
Knife | polymer clay, plastic, woven straw, polyester thread, brass, paint | 34” X 48” X 10” | 2024. Image Courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto.
Detail, ‘Knife’ | 2024.
Cloaked Figure | black tea, acrylic gouache, gelpens, gold gesso, dry media on cotton rag stock | 48” X 30”. Image courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto.
Anklet | tea, acrylic gouache, chalk, charcoal on cotton rag paper 39 1/2” x 26 1/2” (each) | 2024. Image courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto.
Birth is a Bloodsport | tea, red oxide pigment, acrylic gouache, watercolour on cotton rag stock | 48” X 30” | 2024. Image Courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto.
Clacker | tea, acryl gouache, gold gesso on cotton rag stock | 48” x 30” | 2024. Image Courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto.
Protection by Quadrocobra | chalk, charcoal, acrylic gouache, polymer clay beads, metallic thread, freshwater pearls, cotton and polyester thread on polyester fabric | 84” x 60” | 2024. Image Courtesy of Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto.
Gourd Woman (Vessel) | polymer clay, acrylic paint, and synthetic hair on styrofoam skeleton | 39” x 27” x 17” | 2024
Detail, Gourd Woman (Vessel)
Lover Not A Fighter | acrylic gouache, charcoal, chalk, glass pearls, and metallic thread on polyester fabric | 48” x 36” | 2024