"'Too Bad, So Sad, Maybe Next Birth' was a phrase my parents would say whenever something was out of my control and didn’t go exactly according to plan," Shyama Golden wrote on the subject of her new solo show of the same name for PM/AM in London. "It feels to me like a short phrase that embodies the entire human struggle, like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill." The Los Angeles-based painter has created a universe where reincarnation, generational trauma and suffering (and a sense of humor to cope with it), Sri Lankan folktales and a personal journey through time and the soul's journey through eras. Golden told me she wanted to create a works that spoke of "past lives because this framework challenges the idea of an essential self, a fixed history, and linear progress." And so she is creating her own story, not the next birth, but this birth.
In this conversation from The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast, I spoke with Shyama in LA just before her trip to London, just after her husband, Paul Trillo, showed me an incredible AI-generated film he created with her that will premiere in short form at the PM/AM show but will continue to be worked as a longer work in the future. The show is like a journey through our collective creative output: traditional painting, wood masks co-created with craftsmen in Sri Lanka that harken to centuries past as well as a short film utilizing AI. It's work for the ages, literally.
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The Unibrow's Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 164 was recorded in Los Angeles on May 2, 2025.
