Michella Perera is a Sri Lankan born, Irish artist based in Glasgow, UK. She holds a Master of Fine Art degree (2017) from the Glasgow School of Art. She works in sculpture, installation, and painting and the impetus for her work derives from personal subjective sensations, which cannot be resolved within oneself. Social paradoxes and contradictions, which perhaps have no resolution, are actualized in her work in order to delineate autobiographical issues in relation to wider social concerns. Perera’s practice centers on unpacking what these feelings might be for her and how they might impact the audience – exploring the potentials for collectivity and empathy between artist, work and viewer. As such the work relies on syntactic and semantic relationships between individual elements in the installation as well as a relationship to the space and the viewer.
Her recent projects have examined the intersection between "homemaking" vs placemaking, pattern-making and a fictionalisation of culture due to emigration, which results in the obfuscation of cultural artefacts and migrant bodies. She considers what cultural objects and paintings/motifs signify when their originating context is removed through migration. Perera has compressed her recent body of work onto a single plane - giving the impression that the spatial installation has drawn itself together. This new direction was triggered by an altered awareness of occupied space, specially post-pandemic. She has been developing a series of work connected through the relationship between the opposing forces of carving and textile manipulation.Taking a traditionally masculine practice of placemaking though architecture, stone/wood carving - a materially reductive process - and reconfiguring it in the more feminine language of textile manipulation/dressmaking - a materially additive process - Perera foregrounds the cultural and relational specificity between place / pattern / bodies. Traditionally patterns were inspired by place - the surrounding landscape, the relationship between the quality of light and available dyes, and the architectural setting. Patterns are also identity markers, and within the Indian subcontinent, is also a characteristic that distinguishes different ethnicities.
The artist often engages in the reshaping/reconstruction of herself in an effort to consider the dissonance between Perera’s awareness of her selfhood and a wider understanding of self within a certain cultural and architectural space. Observing, reshaping, destroying and restarting - Perera scrutinises herself often through the medium of clay (materially similar to Adam who was created from the dust of the ground), then reappearing as disjointed and incomplete in her installations. Through the engagement in various processes and the embodiment of certain patterns, she arrives at a self awareness that is non-linguistic, arational and similar to Bergsonian introspection - embodied.
Her practice is rooted in personal narratives and dissonances, which are the metaphors of larger social concerns. In exhibiting her work revealing / concealing certain personal information, Perera positions meaning structures as malleable. There is always the potential for missed connections: in being missed, these connections create different fictions, different narratives that come from the subsequent disconnected combination of intention, location, and translation.
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Discord is sewn into an otherwise viable day through a series of incoherent acts. An absurd violence is enacted against the surroundings and/or social conventions by a number of unidentified women unburdened by tangible results. The sense of touch permits in them a cathartic exploration of pleasure, disgust or pain. Touch being a sense which affirms the boundary between oneself and the exterior, where the self ends and "the rest” begins. Hands and feet seek self knowledge as much as self empowerment, like the extraction of pus from a pimple. Their motivations remain unknown but the continuation of the act and the determination, attests to a belief structure, superstition or sacrifice.
The primacy of the sense of vision, often coupled with the attainment of knowledge, is abandoned by the women. The viewer seeks tactile and kinaesthetic knowledge, through careful observation of witchy rituals and unknown superstitions. A “synesthetic” spell, a sensorial mystification and an abandonment of sense and sequence, like haphazardness punctuation in a text. Coloured motifs reminiscent of textile patterns or ethnic symbolism are imprinted onto bare skin, and bleed into the background. Written forcibly or not on the skin are geographical and ethnic markers. The epistemology of patterns serve to situate the persons with their geography. They are the only evidence serving to identify these women in their bare settings and chaotic actions - an inherited aesthetic code within an unidentifiable idiosyncratic one.
Her recent projects have examined the intersection between "homemaking" vs placemaking, pattern-making and a fictionalisation of culture due to emigration, which results in the obfuscation of cultural artefacts and migrant bodies. She considers what cultural objects and paintings/motifs signify when their originating context is removed through migration. Perera has compressed her recent body of work onto a single plane - giving the impression that the spatial installation has drawn itself together. This new direction was triggered by an altered awareness of occupied space, specially post-pandemic. She has been developing a series of work connected through the relationship between the opposing forces of carving and textile manipulation.Taking a traditionally masculine practice of placemaking though architecture, stone/wood carving - a materially reductive process - and reconfiguring it in the more feminine language of textile manipulation/dressmaking - a materially additive process - Perera foregrounds the cultural and relational specificity between place / pattern / bodies. Traditionally patterns were inspired by place - the surrounding landscape, the relationship between the quality of light and available dyes, and the architectural setting. Patterns are also identity markers, and within the Indian subcontinent, is also a characteristic that distinguishes different ethnicities.
The artist often engages in the reshaping/reconstruction of herself in an effort to consider the dissonance between Perera’s awareness of her selfhood and a wider understanding of self within a certain cultural and architectural space. Observing, reshaping, destroying and restarting - Perera scrutinises herself often through the medium of clay (materially similar to Adam who was created from the dust of the ground), then reappearing as disjointed and incomplete in her installations. Through the engagement in various processes and the embodiment of certain patterns, she arrives at a self awareness that is non-linguistic, arational and similar to Bergsonian introspection - embodied.
Her practice is rooted in personal narratives and dissonances, which are the metaphors of larger social concerns. In exhibiting her work revealing / concealing certain personal information, Perera positions meaning structures as malleable. There is always the potential for missed connections: in being missed, these connections create different fictions, different narratives that come from the subsequent disconnected combination of intention, location, and translation.
----
Discord is sewn into an otherwise viable day through a series of incoherent acts. An absurd violence is enacted against the surroundings and/or social conventions by a number of unidentified women unburdened by tangible results. The sense of touch permits in them a cathartic exploration of pleasure, disgust or pain. Touch being a sense which affirms the boundary between oneself and the exterior, where the self ends and "the rest” begins. Hands and feet seek self knowledge as much as self empowerment, like the extraction of pus from a pimple. Their motivations remain unknown but the continuation of the act and the determination, attests to a belief structure, superstition or sacrifice.
The primacy of the sense of vision, often coupled with the attainment of knowledge, is abandoned by the women. The viewer seeks tactile and kinaesthetic knowledge, through careful observation of witchy rituals and unknown superstitions. A “synesthetic” spell, a sensorial mystification and an abandonment of sense and sequence, like haphazardness punctuation in a text. Coloured motifs reminiscent of textile patterns or ethnic symbolism are imprinted onto bare skin, and bleed into the background. Written forcibly or not on the skin are geographical and ethnic markers. The epistemology of patterns serve to situate the persons with their geography. They are the only evidence serving to identify these women in their bare settings and chaotic actions - an inherited aesthetic code within an unidentifiable idiosyncratic one.
Michella Perera CV
Personal Details
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka 1992
Nationality: Irish (Republic of)
Education
2017 Masters of Arts - Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, United Kingdom (UK)
2014 Bachelor of Arts in Sculpture and Combined Media, Limerick School of Art and Design, Limerick, Ireland
Exhibitions/Residences/Prizes
2024 - upcoming
Residency - Test Space Residency, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Ireland
Solo exhibition - Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA), Ireland
Social practice - Painting Workshops with Migrant Women, LCGA, Ireland
Social practice - Ayurvedic walks, banks of the Shannon River, Ireland
2023
Collective exhibition - Claustrophile, Nectar, Marseille, France
Collective exhibition - Open Studio, Goal Volant workshop, Marseille, France
2022
Sculpture Placement Program - Stamps on Coarse Skin, Glasgow, UK
Public Art - Bad Souvenirs - West Graham Street, Glasgow, UK
2021
Collaborative Exhibition, Pointe et Ligne sur Jardin, Glasgow Open House, UK Solo
Glasgow International Satellite Show, Classic Example, at various locations, UK
Social Practice - Event - Beats of War, Tramway Beyond Walls, Glasgow, UK
Social Practice - Panel community architects, Tramway, UK
2020
Social practice - Workshops around the Rajni Perera exhibition at Tramway, RU
Residency, Orbit Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Solo exhibition, Touring Permutations, 16 Nicholson Street, Glasgow, UK
Collaborative exhibition, Tailored Breath, Marc Etienne and Michella Perera, Glasgow Project Room, UK
Grant - Hope Scott Trust (UK) & Eaton Trust (UK)
2019
Collective exhibition, Pilotenkeuche Leipzig, Germany
Group exhibition, Trash Beach, Kuntskraftwerk, Leipzig, Germany Michella Perera and Marc Etienne,
Tender Beige, Mazda 2.0 Leipzig, Germany
Residency, Pilotenkeuche, Leipzig, Germany
2018
Residency, Mauser Foundation, Costa Rica
Collaborative exhibition, Imago Hortorum, Alys Owen & Michella Perera House For an Art Lover, Glasgow, UK
Residency, Shed Space Residency, House For An Art Lover, Glasgow, UK
Social practice (workshops) Monstera Park - House For An Art Lover, Glasgow, UK
Artistic residency linked to social commitment, PECAH, Himalayas, Uttarkhand, India
Social Practice - Workshops focused on cultural exchange between local and resident artists, India
2017
Commission, Castle to Crane, Galgael Trust, Glasgow UK
Graduate Award, Honorary Member of Glasgow Sculpture Studios, UK
Group Exhibition, MFA Degree Show, The Glue Factory, Glasgow, UK
2016
Group exhibition, MFA Interim Show, Reid Gallery, Glasgow, UK
2015
Group exhibition, Times of Unrest, BaAD Studios, Glasgow, UK
2014-2012
Solo exhibition, Preludes, Tactic Studios, Cork City, Ireland, 2014
Residency, National Sculpture Factory (NSF), Cork, Ireland, 2014
Graduate Award, NSF Limerick and Cork, Ireland, 2014
Collective exhibition, Conversation | Reconstructed, The Culture Box, 2014
Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland, 2014, 2014
Group exhibition, First Light, Limerick School of Art and Design, Ireland, 2014
Group exhibition, Liminal, Boat House, Limerick, Ireland, 2013
Group exhibition, Nineteen, Davis Street, Limerick, Ireland, 2013
Group exhibition, The Gathering, Shannon Airport, Limerick, Ireland, 2012
Public sculpture, Emergency Services Memorial, Limerick, Ireland, 2012
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Michella Perera CV
Détails Personels
Née à Colombo, Sri Lanka 1992 Nationalité Irlandaise
Éducation
2017 Master section Arts - Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Royaume-Uni (RU)
2014 Bachelor section Arts en Sculpture et Médias Combinés, École d’Art et de Design de Limerick, Limerick, Irlande
Expositions/Résidences/Prix
2024 - à venir
Résidence - Test Space Residency, Limerick City Gallery of Art, Irlande
Exposition personnelle - Limerick City Gallery of Art (LCGA), Irlande
Pratique sociale - Ateliers de Peinture avec des Femmes Migrantes, LCGA, Irlande
Pratique sociale - Promenades Ayurvédiques, rives du fleuve Shannon, Irlande
2023
Exposition collective - Claustrophile, Nectar, Marseille, France
Exposition collective - Porte Ouverte, atelier Goal Volant, Marseille, France
2022
Programme de placement de sculptures - Stamps on Coarse Skin, Glasgow, RU
Art public - Bad Souvenirs - West Graham Street, Glasgow, RU
2021
Exposition collaborative, Point et Ligne Sur Jardin, Glasgow Open House, RU
Solo Glasgow International Satellite Show, Classic Example, à divers endroits, RU
Pratique sociale - Événement - Beats of War, Tramway Beyond Walls, Glasgow, RU
Pratique sociale - Panel d’architectes communautaires, Tramway, RU
2020
Pratique sociale - Ateliers autour de l’exposition Rajni Perera au Tramway, RU
Résidence, Orbit Gallery, Liverpool, RU
Exposition personnelle, Touring Permutations, 16 Nicholson Street, Glasgow, RU
Exposition collaborative, Tailored Breath, Marc Etienne et Michella Perera, Glasgow Project Room, RU
Bourse - Hope Scott Trust (RU) & Eaton Trust (RU)
2019
Exposition collective, Pilotenkeuche Leipzig, Allemagne
Exposition collective, Trash Beach, Kuntskraftwerk, Leipzig, Allemagne
Exposition collaborative Michella Perera et Marc Etienne, Tender Beige, Mazda 2.0 Leipzig, Allemagne
Résidence, Pilotenkeuche, Leipzig, Allemagne
2018
Résidence, Fondation Mauser, Costa Rica
Exposition collaborative, Imago Hortorum, Alys Owen & Michella Perera House For an Art Lover, Glasgow, RU
Résidence, Shed Space Residency, House For An Art Lover, Glasgow, RU
Pratique sociale (ateliers) Monstera Park - House For An Art Lover, Glasgow, RU
Résidence Artistique liée à l’engagement social, PECAH, Himalaya, Uttarkhand, Inde
Pratique sociale - Ateliers axés sur un échange culturel entre artistes locaux et en résidence, Inde
2017
Commission, Castle to Crane, Galgael Trust, Glasgow RU
Prix d’études supérieures, membre honoraire des Glasgow Sculpture Studios, RU
Exposition collective, MFA Degree Show, The Glue Factory, Glasgow, RU
2016
Exposition collective, MFA Interim Show, Reid Gallery, Glasgow, RU
2015
Exposition collective, Times of Unrest, BaAD Studios, Glasgow, RU
2014-2012
Exposition personnelle, Préludes, Tactic Studios, Cork City, Irlande, 2014
Résidence, National Sculpture Factory (NSF), Cork, Irlande, 2014
Prix d’études supérieures, NSF Limerick et Cork, Irlande, 2014
Exposition collective, Conversation | Reconstructed, The Culture Box, 2014
Temple Bar, Dublin, Irlande, 2014, 2014
Exposition collective, First Light, Limerick School of Art and Design, Irlande, 2014
Exposition collective, Liminal, Boat House, Limerick, Irlande, 2013
Exposition collective, Nineteen, Davis Street, Limerick, Irlande, 2013
Exposition collective, The Gathering, Aéroport de Shannon, Limerick, Irlande, 2012
Sculpture publique, Mémorial des services d’urgence, Limerick, Irlande, 2012