On May 28, the Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG) celebrated three new summer exhibitions with a beautiful launch party accompanied by music, refreshments and an artist presentation.
Party attendees browsed through CUAG’s new exhibitions: ‘Seasons of the Sun,’ ‘Portraits of Community: Recent Acquisitions’ and ‘Rajni Perera: Futures.’
‘Futures’ artist Rajni Perera’s unique infusion of science fiction into her work on oppression was a poignant highlight of the event.
Perera’s artwork focuses on femininity, immigration and the environment. She expresses the themes through her love for science fiction. She also incorporates intricate Sri Lankan details, such as stone carvings and temple art, into ‘Futures.’
The launch party included an informal walkthrough with Perera and chief ‘Futures’ curator, Sarah Milroy. During the conversational tour, author Suyi Davies Okungbowa and curator Anna Shah Hoque touched on the exhibit’s relatability to those of various backgrounds.
“[Perera’s] work, along with a lot of other South Asian creatives in Canada, are an avenue for us to access not the [exact] same stories but…a fragmented, mirrored reflection [that tries] to build ourselves, build community connections through the arts,” Shah Hoque said.
Perera and Milroy also discussed Perera’s creative process and experiences as a Sri-Lankan immigrant moving to Canada.
After discovering a secluded arts culture, Perera realized her work came from “a very specific lived experience” that was not from Canada.
“I would now argue that there is a completely separate genre of [Canadian] art being made in this country,” Perera said. “I’m called a Canadian artist, [but] I never had the privilege of being a Canadian person, ever.”
Milroy notes that while not all of Perera’s work explicitly discusses feminism or immigration, one can draw parallels to today’s society in all of her work.
“I can see certain themes in the work that seem very pressing for today, like feminism. A lot of these warrior heroine figures are redemptive figures that are facing the future,” she said. “In [present spaces dealing with] climate change, social welfare and justice activism, [we see] women are making conversations.”
Each visitor can interpret Perera’s pieces differently, making her stand out in the summer exhibition lineup.
“Her work opens a window into all the different ways we experience relationships with borders, communities, diaspora [and] immigration,” Shah Hoque said. “It generates an access point to talk about something really important and complex.”
Perera’s artwork warns of environmental issues directly impacting immigration. She says climate change has already hardened Canadian immigration policies.
“This is the future of immigrant life. [Immigrants will] definitely navigate hostile borders and have difficulty accessing resources,” Perera said during the exhibition launch.
A fellow CUAG summer exhibit, Augatnaaq Eccles’s ‘Seasons of the Sun,’ highlights Nunavut’s changing seasons and their accompanying Inuit traditions. Eccles’ work beautifully illustrates the traditional seasonal activities uniting her community and family.
The final exhibition, ‘Portraits of Community: Recent Acquisitions,’ presents several artworks previously acquired for the university’s collection.
According to CUAG’s website, ‘Portraits of Community’ is meant to “represent and evoke different kinds of communities.” The exhibit features several artists with various backgrounds and stories, uniting the diverse campus community. While Barry Ace’s piece calls for us to bear witness to the past, Meryl McMaster’s photography speaks to how relationships shape identity.
Featured image by Sadeen Mohsen/The Charlatan.
