ARUNI DHARMAKIRTHI // No Flowers in Eden

On view January 18–February 25, 2020
Opening reception Saturday, January 18 (5–7 p.m.)

Nationale is pleased to present Aruni Dharmakirthi’s No Flowers in Eden as the inaugural exhibition in its new space on East Burnside. A preview of No Flowers in Eden was shown this past October in PDX Contemporary Art’s Window Project as part of Nationale’s contribution to Portland Textile Month.

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The afterlife is lush, humid, tropical landscapes. Blue green leaves swaying in gusts of hot air. The figures that walk this land are ancient mythic creatures that speak to the beginnings of the mortal self. —Aruni Dharmakirthi

Mythical figures, symbols, and abstract shapes inhabit Aruni Dharmakirthi’s colorful textile collages in No Flowers in Eden, the Brooklyn-based artist’s first solo show at Nationale, and the inaugural exhibition in the gallery’s new location. As a Sri Lankan born artist who has called the US home for many years, Dharmakirthi creates new narratives for the female archetypes of ancient South Asian and Western mythologies. The Yakshini of South Asian myths and Eve of Western stories, are often revered yet demonized, and ultimately cast out for eschewing norms. Dharmakirthi reimagines their existence after expulsion as a rich and textured afterlife. Her sewn textile collages, which also incorporate quilting and digital collage, connect the ancient with the contemporary through a unique reframing of familiar symbols and archetypes.

A lavender-hued satin serpent with a humanoid face occupies a central space in Lay Your Head and Rest, a quilted diptych installed on the floor of the gallery. The snake’s counterpart in this work is a dotted satin vessel containing delicate geometric plantlife. Serpents and vessels are both found in the ancient art and mythologies that inspire Dharmakirthi. Serpents, like female archetypes, hold a conflicted space in these narratives. They represent transformation and fertility, but also temptation and malevolent intent. Using thread almost as a material for drawing, Dharmakirthi’s serpent embodies these histories, while also appearing very much of this moment. Similarly, her satin vessel hints at the vases of ancient Greece, but her choice of material, bright pink stain dots against a light purple background, alludes to a beloved grandmother of contemporary art, Yayoi Kusama.

Dharmakirthi’s textile collages combine traditional techniques of quilting and embroidery with a freshness and immediacy typically found in drawing and painting. She achieves this duality by favoring raw edges and varied textures to the perfectionism of conventional quilting. In her studio practice Dharmakirthi also uses drawing to tap into a subconscious ancestral memory. When she transfers loosely drawn ideas to quilting, the slow nature of the medium gives her the opportunity to develop a deep connection to each work. “The length and repetition of sewing becomes a meditation on the image. I think about my quilted tapestry collages as both vessel and shrine to hold personal and collective narratives.”

Aruni Dharmakirthi is a Sri Lankan born textile and digital artist based in Brooklyn, NY, whose work has been shown nationally and internationally in galleries including Housing in Brooklyn, NY, and Disjecta in Portland, OR. Dharmakirthi received an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2017, has participated as an artist in residence at the Bric Workspace Residency (NY), Centrum Emerging Artist In Residence (WA), and Caldera PNCA MFA Residency (OR), and recently received an Equity Award by the American Craft Council to attend the Present: Tense 2019 conference in Philadelphia.

PRESS & MORE
VizArts Monthly, Martha Daghlian, Oregon ArtsWatch
Critical Viewing, Lindsay Costello, Art and About PDX
Recommended Visual Arts Exhibitions, Portland Mercury
Shining a Light on Portland’s Art Scene, Raechel Herron Root, Hyperallergic

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