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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:51.95pt"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;mso-fareast-language:JA"><img width="373" height="473" style="width:3.8854in;height:4.927in" id="drawing" src="cid:image001.jpg@01DC8ABD.1EF97830"></span><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:JA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">MEDIA RELEASE</span></b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">For immediate release from<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">Kamloops Art Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">January 21, 2026<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="right" style="text-align:right"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir 55";color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Rajni Perera,<i><span style="color:black"> I take a journey, you take a journey, we take a journey together</span></i><span style="color:black">,
2020 <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">leather, trim, cotton, beads, metallic thread, beeralu lace, rubber gas mask.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Collection of Paul and Mary Dailey Desmarais III.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Photo courtesy of the artist and Patel Brown.
</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">© Rajni Perera<span style="color:black">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">25.4 x22.9 x 17.8 cm.
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Kamloops Art Gallery Presents
<span style="color:#C00000">Rajni Perera:</span> <span style="color:#FFC000">Futures</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Exhibition // January 31 to May 9, 2026<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Join us for the Opening Reception Saturday, January 31<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Welcome Prayer and Remarks // 5:30 pm<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Exhibition Tour // 5:45 to 6:30 pm<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Reception // 6:30 to 8:00 pm<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">There’s power in the artist’s radical and restorative futurism<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Rajni Perera (b. 1985) came to Canada with her family in childhood from Sri Lanka, and in the years since has established herself as one of Canada’s
leading contemporary artists. Her paintings and sculptures draw on such diverse traditions as historical Sri Lankan art, Indian miniature painting, medieval armour, South Asian textiles, and science fiction illustrations. Gathering inspiration from across
place and time, Perera looks ahead to an uncertain future threatened by climate change and looming social inequities.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;line-height:106%"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Perera’s works are populated by
<i>Travellers</i>, visitors from the future who preside over dystopic realms, flooded and in flames, often mutated to adapt to their challenging environments. Far from grotesque, their physical mutations</span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">—<span style="color:black">extra
eyes or limbs, hairless bodies, technicoloured and roughly textured skin</span>—<span style="color:black">embody potent forms of biological resistance against the atrocities humankind continues to wage against our world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;line-height:106%"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">In Perera’s hands, this process of environmental adaptation mirrors the immigrant and climate-refugee
experience. By 2050, projections from the UN and World Bank estimate that between 140 million to one billion people will be displaced by climate change, predominately from Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and South Asia. Through the lens of science fiction,
Perera imagines the adaptations and tools needed to survive this impending climate catastrophe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;line-height:106%"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">About the Artist
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Rajni Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. Her work explores issues of hybridity, futurity,
ancestorship, migrant and marginalized identities/cultures, monsters, and dream worlds. These themes come together to fuel explorations in a multimedia practice that includes drawing and painting, clay, wood, lanterns, new media sculpture, textile, and recently,
synthetic taxidermy. Perera seeks to open and reveal the dynamism of the icons, beings, and objects she creates by means of a subversive aesthetic that counteracts antiquated, oppressive discourse, and acts as a restorative force.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">This exhibition was curated by Sarah Milroy, Frances and Tim Price Executive Director and Chief Curator, McMichael Canadian Art Collection,
and organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.</span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Exhibition Opening Reception:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Everyone is invited to celebrate the Kamloops Art Gallery’s winter exhibitions at the
<b>Opening Reception Saturday, January 31 from 5:30 to 8:00pm. <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">The evening will begin with a welcoming prayer and remarks followed by an exhibition tour of
<i>Futures</i> with Associate Curator of Collections and Research, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, John Geoghegan.
<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">Following the tour will be a casual reception in the Studios and the Atrium with live music, an art making area, wine sponsored
by Twisted Spirits on 3rd, and beer sponsored by Bright Eye Brewing.<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Media Information<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">Charo Neville, Curator<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">250.377.2410<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">cneville@kag.bc.ca<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">About the Kamloops Art Gallery<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.0pt;line-height:115%"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">The Kamloops Art Gallery, established in 1978, is situated on the unceded and unsurrendered
lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc within Secwepemcúl’ecw, the traditional territory of the Secwépemc people. The largest art gallery in Secwepemcúl</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">̓</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black;mso-ligatures:none">ecw
(the Interior of British Columbia), the Gallery offers national caliber art experiences through a diverse range of accessible and affordable exhibitions, talks, tours, and studio-based programming for all ages and abilities, and boasts a collection of over
3,000 works of art.</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><img width="603" height="37" style="width:6.2812in;height:.3854in" id="Picture_x0020_265712274" src="cid:image004.png@01DC8ABD.1EF97830"></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;line-height:12.65pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next";color:#222A35;letter-spacing:1.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.65pt"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Next";color:#222A35;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">KAMLOOPS ART GALLERY<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">101 – 465 Victoria Street, Kamloops, BC V2C 2A9</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">250.377.2400 | </span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><a href="http://www.kag.bc.ca/"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt">www.kag.bc.ca</span></a></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;letter-spacing:1.0pt;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA">The Kamloops Art Gallery is situated on the unceded and unsurrendered
lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc within Secwepemcúl’ecw, the traditional territory of the Secwépemc people.</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Avenir LT Std 35 Light";color:#333F50;mso-fareast-language:EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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