Rajni Perera

Rajni Perera (born 1985) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian multidisiclinary artist. She is known for using wide-ranging imagery such as science fiction, Indian miniature painting, and medieval armour in her work to explore themes of gender and identity.

Biography Born in Sri Lanka, Perera was also raised in Australia and Canada. Through British, U.S. and Japanese programming on television in Sri Lanka, she saw the animated Robotech series and the work of Hayao Miyazaki as well as American science fiction. While obtaining a B.F.A. in Drawing & Painting, OCAD University in Toronto, she began to challenge the canon taught at OCAD and began looking at the style of miniaturist painting as well as her own influences for guidance in exploring the politics of the colored body. as well as Indian miniatures. Some of her later work, particularly The Traveller series (2019), reflects her view of emigrants in the future, as superior and resilient beings. the Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto, 2018); The MAM Rio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil); Art Metropole (Toronto, 2017); Gallery 44 (Toronto, 2017); the Art Gallery of York University (Toronto, 2017); OTA Fine Arts (Tokyo, Japan 2017); Superchief Gallery (Brooklyn, USA, 2017); the Colombo Art Biennale (Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2016); Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE, 2016); Scope Basel, Scope Miami and the Art League Houston (Houston, USA, 2014); at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, Ontario, 2022) (her first survey show) and elsewhere. She is represented by Patel-Brown Gallery in Toronto, Galerie Hugues Charbonneau in Montreal, and Saskia Fernando Gallery in Colombo. in a video by the Art Gallery of Ontario talking about her work in the collection, Fresh Air (Toronto, 2019), in a video made by CanadianArt Online, In The Studio with Rajni Perera (May 2017)

In 2016, Perera illustrated a children's book by Vivek Shrava, The Boy & the Bindi.

Awards and honours Medal for Drawing and Painting, OCAD, 2011 York Wilson Endowment Award, Canada Arts Council, 2019 for the Robert McLaughlin Gallery for the purchase of Banner for New Empire 1 by Rajni Perera Ontario region finalist for Sobey Art Award, 2021 MOCA Toronto Award, 2022 Koerner Artist-in-Residence in Queen’s BFA (Visual Art) Program (2022) Sauer Art Prize at the Armory Show in 2023; and Toronto Life. She lives and works in Toronto.