India through Lankan eyes and Lanka through Indian eyes
A cultural exchange through art: A painting by Royden Gibbs and below a photograph by Anavi Singh
Royden Gibbs, one of Sri Lanka’s finest artists, is famous for his ability to travel to a place and capture not just the beauty, but also the history and culture of the space and successfully represent it on canvas. He has travelled extensively throughout his career, most widely in his own country. However, his latest project has taken him to India on behalf of an organisation called Aide et Action International and he will be exhibiting this work at the end of the month.
His work will be displayed alongside those of one of his students, young Indian photographer Anavi Singh, who will present her perceptions of various shades of Sri Lanka. She has spent a significant time in Sri Lanka and has photographed widely.
The exhibition, titled “Monumental Connect and Many other shades of Connect” is a platform to explore India and Sri Lanka through two different sets of eyes, two different generations and two different art mediums; photography and painting. The exhibition will be an exciting insight into two talented artists’ perspectives, and seeing the two mediums alongside each other will add an interesting dimension to this cultural exchange.
Royden was sent to India with one objective: to exchange Sri Lankan and Indian culture and thereby promote the concept of global citizenship. Ravi Pratap Singh, Regional Director of Aide et Action, briefed Royden on the history of the places he would be visiting and Royden explains how he is extremely grateful to Ravi for feeding his mind and his imagination. Royden jokes, just as Napoleon went, saw and conquered, “I went to India, saw something and brought it back in the form of my art.” He spent three months travelling around Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad visiting historical places and painting what he saw. Royden eloquently talks about his love for art and travel and how he has the rare ability to ‘creep into any place and start painting’.
Royden Gibbs
In India, he focused mainly on Buddhist sites around Nagarajunkonda and Amrawti and the Asaf Jahi dynasty monuments of Hyderabad where Royden enjoyed the prominent Mughal architecture. He was struck by the similarities in these architectures with Sri Lankan Buddhist temple architecture such as the common use of the lotus flower which is present in both Indian and Sri Lankan designs.
Ravi Singh has carefully selected Royden’s recent Indian works and hung them alongside earlier pieces completed in Sri Lanka, to best highlight these architectural and cultural similarities.
Painting and art as a whole can play an important role in recording a country’s history and hold huge historical value. Royden’s paintings tell stories and he prides himself on the part he plays in recording these buildings in time. He recognises that in the next 50 to 100 years there will be considerable change in Sri Lanka and he feels it is his duty to remember and record places for his fellow countrymen. He says: “In a way, painting reminds people of their great history and heritage and I hope people realise they should preserve these wonderful places.”
Aide et Action is an organisation that focuses on developing education and a child’s learning process. They recognise that education takes place not just at school but is in fact a life-long learning process. They wish to promote the idea of global citizenship, by encouraging children to be proud of their own culture but appreciative of other cultures, perspectives and in particular art forms. Aide et Action sees this exhibition as very strategic in terms of Sri Lankan – Indian relations. The next step is to take the information from the project and deliver it to various schools as a citizenship programme. Groups of school children have also been asked to attend the exhibition.
The exhibition will be held on May 28, 29, and 30 at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. All proceeds will go towards vocational education and skills development for the underprivileged Sri Lankan youth.
Anavi Singh
