Of hopscotch, underwater jungles and adventures in faraway places
A while back, SulochanaDissanayake hit upon the perfect antidote to feeling sleepy in class – making up stories. She’d write a single word along every line of the book and then neatly tear away the entire column. Next, she would fold it, so that only one word occupied each pleat. Her reader (who might very well be the professor who caught her in the act) would have to undo the narrow, neatly creased “story strip” to find a sentence on each side.The process meant that her first drafts were necessarily brief, but many lingered in Sulochana’s head until one shouldered its way to the head of the pack and became something bigger.
Isuri and Sulochana. Pic by Indika Handuwala
In illustrator Isuri Dayaratne, Sulochana found someone she could trust with her words. They’ve been collaborators for a little over a year now, joining forces after Isuri graduated with her BFA from the Columbus College of Art & Design.Together, the two young women have generated multiple iterations of text and drawings, they’ve agonised over whether they wanted to produce a book for adults or for children, they’ve faceddown publishers and refused to compromise on the hardcover of their dreams. At the end of it all they’re left, at last, holding their first book. Launched this week, ‘The Boy Who Slept in the Sky’ began its life as a ‘fairy tale for adults’ but has abandoned the label in favour of being simpler, shorter and sweeter.
The slender volume for children had its genesis in one of Sulochana’s story strips, the latter itself was constructed out of a throwaway line delivered by a friend late one night. Though she is better known as a puppeteer and a thespian (and depending on the company you’re in, an economist), Sulochana says she has always been as much a writer. Many of the originals shows she produces begin their life on a page in her notebook.
To Isuri, the challenge was not one of whether she could draw but whether she could draw enough to fill a whole book.She began as meant to go on, creating concept characters and landscapes and trying, at least at first, to bring Sulochana’s vision to life. It was only when she decided to interpret the story for herself that she began to find her feet in their make believe world. The results have startled Sulochana who says she’s learning to look at her own creation through different eyes. So much so, that she confesses that she thinks the illustrations are fine enough to stand alone. For her part, Isuri was also deeply concerned about the quality of the reproductions – she thinks a book can be a work of art in itself.Trying to realise that ambition has been a steep learning curve.
The final product seems right out of a happy child’s dream. Their blurb describes it as ‘a fantastical tale of hopscotch, underwater jungles and adventures in faraway places,’ but there’s an underlying theme connecting some of the book’s more fanciful elements (think: actual blankets of mist, trains that criss-cross the solar system, space seahorses and friendly aliens). It’s about the universality of humanity, says Sulochana: “What people consider important doesn’t change…and the book in a very simple way relates that.”
To go with the book, the duo have designed a short interactive multi-media performance that combines music with dramatic narrations. It was one of the highlights of their launch yesterday and will hopefully kick start a good year for the first time authors.
The event was part of the World Children’s Day 2013 celebrations at Expographics Books.‘The Boy Who Slept in the Sky’ is priced at Rs.650 and is available at Samayawardhana Bookshop in Maradana and at Expographics Books in Pellawatte. You can also order a copy online by emailing isurimh@gmail.com. Find more online at www.facebook.com/powerinfoplay and
www.artofisuri.com.