Exploring the Universe: A Conversation with Rajni Perera

December 14, 2021
11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Sponsored by Take Home BIPOC Arts House
Event recording

Hassaan Ashraf from Take Home BIPOC Arts House and Shaneela Boodoo from Patterns Collective will engage in conversation with Rajni Perera in conjunction with Gallery 1C03's exhibition, Sanctuaries. They will explore topics such as sci-fi, world building, futurity and modes of making within Perera’s past and present artistic practice.

ASL interpretation and live zoom captioning will be available.

About the speakers

Treaty 1 based, multidisciplinary artist Hassaan Ashraf has been focusing on their skills as a painter and calligraphy artist for the last couple of years. Originally a lens based artist, Hassaan has tried to follow the spiral of change in their practice as they have focused on exploring a multitude of mediums throughout their art life. Their practice flourishes the most while collaborating with artist friends who share similar values and political standing. They hope to continue their practice once the pandemic is a thing of the past and nourishment through community and friends becomes a possibility again. Currently, their focus is working as an artist, curator and admin person at TakeHome BIPOC Artshouse, an artist run centre and community nourishment studio space they opened with Annie Beach, Brenden Gali and Sappfyre Mcleod in Oct 2020 for and by BIPOC folks exclusively.

Shaneela Boodoo is a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a BFA (Honours) in Design. She is a second-generation immigrant, born and based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and identifies as Indo-Caribbean. As an emerging artist, designer, and curator, Boodoo explores themes such as colonialism, displacement, and womanhood. Boodoo has also worked to establish and brand many BIPOC collectives in the city, such as RIND, Patterns Collective and Chroma Collective. Her curated exhibitions include Adornment and Analogous for the School of Art Gallery, which centered the experiences of BIPOC in institutional spaces.

Rajni Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. She explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, immigration identity/cultures, monsters and dream worlds. All of these themes marry in a newly objectified realm of mythical symbioses. In her work she seeks to open and reveal the dynamism of the icons and objects she creates, both scripturally existent, self-invented and externally defined. She creates a subversive aesthetic that counteracts antiquated, oppressive discourse, and acts as a restorative force through which people can move outdated, repressive modes of being towards reclaiming their power.