Drought Mask

2021 - Sculpture (Sculpture)

34.29 x 15.24 x 19.05 cm

Rajni Perera


Drought Mask by Rajni Perera is a prototype that is suggestive of dire implications for human survival. Directly addressing the urgent climate crisis, specifically wide-spread drought, this sculpture imagines hybrid cultural aesthetics of the near-future after global collapse. Composed of various woven textiles complete with frills and fringes, leather, a gas mask, and pencil, Rajni’s mask prefigures future dystopian characters who are resilient and resourceful; self-fashioning tools for survival. The work is both talismanic and practical protection from a socially oppressive and/or potentially deadly atmosphere. Foretelling the surging visibility, and commodification, of face masks due to the Covid-19 pandemic (this work was made nearly a year before), Perera’s work speaks to the ever-accumulating manufactured and environmental assaults on our health and well-being. Synthesizing aesthetics across cultures, time periods, and crises, Perera’s mask constitutes a symbol of future mythology.


Rajni Perera’s practice foregrounds a hybrid model that merges immigrant politics, feminine power, mythology, and science fiction. Portending an unsettling near-term future, her sculptures and paintings consider alternative conceptions of futurity; counteracting the archaic narratives that perpetuate oppressive and homogenized aesthetics. Perera describes her work as a healing force that refigures repressive modes of representation and identity into means of reclaiming power. Perera’s work both foreshadows the effects of climate change, and imagines a cultural transformation in which those marginalized people who exist on the periphery can thrive.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

‘Manahatta’ to Make Bay Area Premiere
© » KQED

'Manahatta' to Make Bay Area Premiere | KQED Skip to Nav Skip to Main Skip to Footer upper waypoint The Do List 'Manahatta' to Make Bay Area Premiere Nicole Gluckstern Feb 8 Save Article Save Article Failed to save article Please try again Email Shannon R...

Au Musée juif de New York, requiem expressionniste pour les victimes du 7 octobre
© » LE MONDE

Au Musée juif de New York, requiem expressionniste pour les victimes du 7 octobre nav_close_menu Cet article vous est offert Pour lire gratuitement cet article réservé aux abonnés, connectez-vous Se connecter Vous n'êtes pas inscrit sur Le Monde ? Inscrivez-vous gratuitement Article réservé aux abonnés « Oct...

Yesterday You Said Tomorrow
© » LENS CULTURE

Yesterday You Said Tomorrow - Photographs by Dave Coyle | Text by Magali Duzant | LensCulture Award winner Yesterday You Said Tomorrow In the quiet, lonely hours of dawn, Dave Coyle faces his personal struggle while plotting a path towards the future in atmospheric meditations on the landscape of the Pacific Northwest...

The Hero’s Journey: Baselitz at the Pompidou
© » ARTMARKETMONITOR

The Hero’s Journey: Baselitz at the Pompidou Georg Baselitz, Die großen Freunde, 1965 Museum Ludwig For many the name Georg Baselitz immediately brings to mind a painter of inverted portraits...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

Acts of Appearance
© » KADIST

Gauri Gill

2015

Acts of Appearance is an ongoing series by Gauri Gill consisting of lush, large-scale color portraits of the residents of a village in Maharashtra, in Western India, which is known for making Adivasi masks...

Un hombre que camina (A Man Walking)
© » KADIST

Enrique Ramirez

In Un Hombre que Camina (A Man Walking) (2011-2014), the sense of rhythm and timing is overpowered by the colossal sense of timelessness of this peculiar place...

Ofrenda
© » KADIST

Elyla

2021

Ofrenda [Offering] by Elyla includes a single-channel video and the mask used in the performance...

Collector Beth Rudin DeWoody on How She’s Satisfying Her Art-Buying Addiction During Lockdown - via artnet news
© » LARRY'S LIST

The Los Angeles-based collector tells us about buying and looking at art via PDF, over Zoom, and from behind a mask....