Myth of Descent Artist Talk w/Cheri Gaulke, Eva Malhotra, & More!

Join us at PRS on January 7 at 7PM for an intimate artist talk surrounding our current exhibition Myth of Inanna. Together with the exhibiting artists and the curator, we’ll explore the themes, research, and creative processes that shaped this show.

This gathering is an opportunity to step deeper into the work: to hear how the pieces came into being, what histories and mythologies informed them, and how each artist approaches transformation, memory, and the unseen forces that move through their practice. The curator will guide a discussion on the exhibition’s larger questions and the resonances it holds for our current cultural moment.

Bring your curiosity, your questions, and your presence.

ARTISTS BIOS

Cheri Gaulke is a pioneer in the feminist art movement associated with the Woman’s Building in 1970s Los Angeles. She is known for her performance art, public art commissions, and award-winning films which have screened in national and international film festivals. Gaulke’s work has been presented at the Museum of Modern Art (NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art (LA), in a Smithsonian-touring exhibition, and in settings all over the world including buses, churches, and prehistoric temples. Gaulke has received artist fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles, California Community Foundation, and California Humanities. Gaulke is currently in post-production on Acting Like Women, a feature documentary about feminist performance art and the Woman’s Building in 1970s-80s Los Angeles.

Eva Malhotra is a Plastic artist whose work includes encaustic and carved work, oil painting, installations, performance, and photography. The artist revived her education at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, UCLA School of Letters and Science, Department of Spanish Literature and Linguistics where she was awarded a Bacherlor in Arts degree, and the Schools of Law at UCLA and Boalt Hall/UC Berkeley - earning a Juris Doctor’s degree.

Malhotra’s art has been exhibited extensively in the U.S. and Mexico - both in solo and group shows, including the Armory Art Fair in NYC, the LA Art Show, UNAM LA, CECUT Tijuana, IMAC Puebla, IMAC Tijuana, Casa de la Cultura Los Angeles, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, and many others.

Natalia Pereira, also known as AD105, is a Brazilian-American artist, author, and award-winning chef originally from Vianopolis, Brazil. Her multidisciplinary work is rooted in childhood memories and nature – includes drawings, paintings, and sculptures made with natural materials like yucca, dried flowers, and earth pigments.

Pereira’s art has been exhibited internationally, including at MOCA in Los Angeles and solo shows across the U.S., Europe, and South America. She is also the author of Abundancia: My Life in Recipes (2021), a book blending food, stories, poetry, and visual art.

As head chef of Woodspoon in downtown Los Angeles, she’s received a Michelin Bib Gourmand and was a James Beard finalist for “Best Chef in California” in 2022. Pereira lives and works in Los Angeles.

Rachelle Mozman Solano is a Brooklyn- and Panamá-based artist whose work explores the psychic, historical, and emotional inheritances of the Americas. Informed by her clinical practice in psychoanalysis, she uses film and photography to probe themes of mythology, migration, and intergenerational memory—often centering stories from her maternal lineage in Panamá.

Her recent projects include Birth of a Psyche, Venas Abiertas, and All These Things I Carry With Me, experimental works that confront U.S. policy, biblical myth, and the immigrant experience. Solano is a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow and 2025 NYFA/NYSCA awardee. She has exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, Crystal Bridges, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, among others.

Sarana Mehra is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersections of language, technology, medicine, and belief. As a disabled person whose survival has depended on experimental medical interventions, she draws from personal experience to investigate the cyclical nature of human progress and the history of medical science.

Her practice engages with "future relics"—objects that merge contemporary symbols with ancient mythologies, drawing attention to how meaning persists or erodes over time.

Born in London to an English mother and South Asian immigrant father, Mehra is a biracial British-American artist living in Los Angeles. She is a co-founder and Media Director of Artists 4 Democracy, and a member of the Binder of Women collective. She holds a BFA from Oxford and an MFA from Central Saint Martins.

Ticket Price: $5 - $15 sliding scale

All are welcome. In-person Event.

Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

CONTENT DISCLAIMER

The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.

ACCESSIBILITY

PRS wants all guests to be able to enjoy our events safely and comfortably. If you require any accessibility accommodation, please reach out to events@prs.org before showtime and we will be happy to assist you.

REFUND POLICIES

All sales are final. There are no refunds for PRS events , except in the event of a medical emergency, including but not limited to a positive COVID-19 test. Ticket exchanges may be granted on a case by case basis, pending circumstances.

In the event that PRS is forced to cancel an event entirely, tickets will be refunded or vouchers offered for a rescheduled event.

PARKING

We encourage attendees to consider carpooling, walking or biking to events if possible, and please be considerate of our Los Feliz neighbors when parking. There is plenty of street parking and limited parking is available onsite at PRS in the front lot (entry from Los Feliz Blvd. when heading east).

PRS EVENT POLICIES

• We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
• Events are subject to change without notice, including guest speakers and/or performers.
• We encourage you to arrive at least 30 min. before the scheduled event start time to find parking, enjoy the Bookstore and take your seats.
• Please turn off all mobile devices before the show. Talking and texting are not allowed during the events.
• No filming, audio recording or mobile phone recording of events, screenings, concerts or other programs by audience members is allowed without permission.
• There is no smoking permitted on PRS grounds.
• We strongly encourage guests to wear masks to PRS events to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
• PRS allows Service Animals into the facility under ADA and state guidelines. For further details please visit www.ADA.gov. No animals permitted whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support, under ADA guidelines and CA Health Code.
• Please do not bring outside food or drink into PRS events.
• Weapons are strictly prohibited at PRS events.