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# Temple Contemporary Presents Rajni Perera’s Beyond the Words of Earth
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/temple-contemporary-presents-rajni-perera-beyond-the-words-of-earth/
- Published: 2022-12-02T19:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:05:33.000Z
- Description: The award-winning Canadian artist explores notions of power through the imagery of science fiction in portraits, sculpture, and objects.
- Author: Tyler School of Art and Architecture
- Tags: Announcement, Exhibition Announcement, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Sponsored, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:22 (2021, 2022, part 2)

Temple Contemporary — the Tyler School of Art and Architecture’s center for exhibitions and public programs — presents the Philadelphia debut of [*Beyond the Words of Earth*](http://bit.ly/3XI876l?ref=hyperallergic.com), an otherworldly-inspired solo show by multi-disciplinary Toronto-based artist Rajni Perera.

On view through March 3, 2023, the exhibition invites viewers into a future where borders, imperialist capitalism, and ecological collapse have birthed the survival of Travellers — a humanoid species whose multi-ancestral technologies have allowed them to recreate planetary and interplanetary relations.

Through portraits, sculpture, and objects from her 2019 *Traveller* series, Perera simulates a natural history museum, presenting an evolutionary timescale thousands of years into the future. The exhibition portrays the phenomena of “off-worlding,” a concept derived from the artist’s extensive research on histories of colonization and how imperialism has impacted immigration.

*Beyond the Words of Earth* is a story told in three dimensions and demonstrates how mutation, adaptation, and reimagining technology impact our future while untangling metaphors of space-travel within immigrant life.

The exhibition features “A Starry-eyed Subspecies,” a new sculptural piece of a life-size Traveller and Post-Horse traversing a mutated and poisoned landscape left behind by greedy and wealthy corporate nations. The piece amplifies previous works that illustrate the history of Travellers with stories of extinction and survival.

> Rajni Perera’s multi-disciplinary practice embodies the spirit of possibility. Her work illuminates how art is a catalyst for imagination and community care. I am excited for visitors to engage with the exhibition and consider what is possible in spite of the seemingly impossible times we are living in.  
>  
> Jova Lynne, exhibition curator and director of Temple Contemporary

*Beyond the Words of Earth* is on view through March 3, 2023, at Temple Contemporary of the [Tyler School of Art and Architecture](http://bit.ly/3OSEefB?ref=hyperallergic.com), Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

**Address**  
2001 North 13th Street (on West Norris Street between 12th and 13th Streets)

**Gallery Hours**  
Wednesday–Thursday, 12–8pm  
Friday–Saturday, 11am–6pm

**Learn more and plan your visit at** [**tyler.temple.edu**](http://bit.ly/3XI876l?ref=hyperallergic.com)**.**