Anjalé Perrault

For me, botanicals are a coming home. Raised in the canyons of LA, the plants and animals of the landscape are the cornerstones of my memory. In my current work I use this symbology to tell a story about where I’ve been…as a female, as an artist, and as someone who desires to rewire the binaries of right and wrong, good vs. evil, worthiness and unworthiness that I’ve been tight-roping for half a lifetime.

Garden of Eden is a series about releasing judgment; maybe first for ourselves so that we can then release others from its grip, too. It’s the offering of a question: what would happen if we embraced the fullest pleasure of the present moment? If we were really in it, without guilt, without regret. Can you imagine truly loving every last scaly bit of this human experience of yours, if for no other reason than making it wholly your own?

Using snakes, flowers, and all the shades of pink I create oil paintings that represent a progression from the original Garden of Eden to more modern day temptations. Rather than painting these images as distasteful or dangerous, I present the serpent as a lovely creature; alluring, mysterious, and undoubtedly benevolent. Through this lens I aim to make peace with the concept of original sin, offering up the vision that we can be trusted with all of the fractured parts of ourselves.

Wild Geese (excerpt)

“You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.”

- Mary Oliver