Laki returns with ‘Lost Collection’
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Laki Senanayake returned last week with an exhibition at Barefoot of his ‘Lost Collection.’ The paintings and sketches will be on display till September 14 and date back to the years between 1971 and 1978.
The story goes that it was 1974 and Laki was living in a commune farm in Dambulla, when he first received a visit from Lady Olga Cannon, the wife of a British knighted Labour leader. Having this chance to watch Laki work, Lady Olga was fascinated by his drawings, which at the time were an eccentric assortment of sketches of the gardens at Peradeniya, erotic sketches, illustrations of Indian folktales and even sketches which required a reader to pay particular attention to see the images embedded within images.
“Seeing my work, and seeing me going off to spend several hours digging the fields every day, and returning to draw and paint in the night, she very kindly offered me 6000 rupees and advised me to spend my entire time painting,” Laki told the Sunday Times when the paintings were first recovered.
Seeing the potential in the work, Lady Cannon had suggested they attempt to publish the paintings as a collection of botanical and landscape drawings. However, the agreements with publishers never panned out. Laki eventually lost touch with Lady Cannon. It was only recently that a member of the family got in touch with the information she still had the paintings. Laki, delighted to have them back, says he has Facebook to thank for making the connection.
