Bolder and more defiant, Iromie’s women stride her canvas
For Iromie Wijewardena, Sri Lanka’s celebrated woman artist, her forthcoming exhibition of paintings from August 22 to 24 at the Harold Peiris Gallery of the Lionel Wendt, is a celebration of women. A dedication to women who strive to eke out a living, Iromie, with firm strokes of her brush and a strong use of colour, has turned her canvas into an eloquent platform for women’s rights.
Since 1973 when she made her debut as a school girl at Ladies’ College, Iromie has held numerous exhibitions both in Sri Lanka and overseas. Her forthcoming exhibition which reiterates her stature as an artist of maturity, is a reflection of the intensity of her
Iromie gives power to women through her brush
conviction on gender equality. Her portrayal of the serenity of women as mother, wife, home-maker or breadwinner questions society whether these women who perform such noble tasks, could be abused, raped and made victims of violence?
The everyday acts depicted in her paintings – be it tea pluckers, women taking bananas to the market, moulding clay pots or carrying baskets of lotus flowers to sell at the temple, speak of their sweat and toil and the use of delicate limbs to make an honest living. Iromie therefore, asks whether such women who contribute to the country’s economy whilst keeping away the hungerpangs of their brood, could be relegated to a minority in society?
She is, thus in full flight–her women are, bolder and more defiant on her canvas. There is tremendous vibrance in their limbs and form and more rhythm in the movements of her elongated figures than we saw earlier. The most impressive are the eyes, penetrating and expressive of women’s enduring courage and strength.
Even women artists are a minority, reflects Iromie. Women are not allowed to exhibit their talent or skills in many countries. In India, it was artist Amrita ShirGil whom Iromie greatly admires, who set the standards for women artists to break barriers and exhibit their art. Iromie, as a woman artist who had been taking her paintings often to galleries abroad. “Wherever I have gone, I have shown that women artists have a place in the art world,” she says.
Her celebration of women is mostly with bright shades of blues, reds, oranges and yellows. But where it is appropriate, Iromie has shown restraint, restricting herself to a few blends of a single colour as in the case of her “Three Women with Pots.” A stark contrast to these bright and colourful paintings are her few line drawings such as “The Sitar Player” and “Pooja Dancers” which illustrate the talents of women and are done on paper in brown against white.
What gives a new dimension to her current paintings however is her application of mixed mediums where paints and oils in varied textures are used on the canvas as highlights. The estate in “Tea Pluckers” in shimmering blue is set against a sky of brown, orange and red. The descending mist on the estate is highlighted with mixed mediums.
The artist adds finishing touches to her painting
It was while Iromie was studying for the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya that she won a scholarship to Wilson College, Pennsylvania, USA. Love intervened when she met Lucille while she was on holiday back at home. And marriage followed. Thereafter, instead of returning to US to pursue her scholarship, she recommenced her studies at the University of Kelaniya from where she graduated in 1982.
Winner of many awards, Iromie’s exhibitions are a regular event in the Lankan art calendar. Her reputation has spread beyond our shores; she has been invited to exhibit in countries which range from India, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Germany, USA to Bangladesh, Japan, Cuba, Korea, Paris, China, Singapore and London. Her paintings are among the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery of Sri Lanke.
In 1984, her classical painting “The Royal Procession” was Sri Lanka’s choice for the permanent collection at Josip Broz Tito Gallery. It represented Art of the Non Aligned countries and was picked from over 50 countries for a postage stamp by the Yugoslavian government. This was among four other traditional series on the theme “works of foreign artists in Museums and Galleries of Yugoslavia.”
Since 2009, Iromie’s paintings have been on display at the Noble Sage Gallery in London. She has been featured in Asiaweek as an outstanding artist of Asia, and in 2000, her painting “Devotees,” was selected for permanent display at the “Lyudmila Zhivkova International Foundation Art Gallery” in Sofia, Bulgaria while in the same year, one of her paintings was reproduced on the back cover of the Readers Digest, Asian Edition, the only woman artist from this country to be so featured. Iromie’s election over a large number of Asian artists as Chairperson of the Jury Panel of the twelfth Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2006 was a loud affirmation of the place she occupies in Asian art.
‘A Celebration of Women’, Iromie Wijewardena’s exhibition will be on from August 22-24 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Harold Peiris Gallery of the Lionel Wendt