Navigating her space in the world of arts
Left to right: Thaji Dias, Ameena Hussein, Savithri Rodrigo and Layla Gonaduwa
Gathered in the artistically inspiring courtyard of Taru Villas – Lake Lodge, Day Three of the Cargills International Women’s Day Festival – The Changemakers was on the theme ‘The Creative Forces’.
Presented by Table by Taru together with Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo, the panel discussion tackled the topic of women in the arts, navigating the spaces dominated by cultural barriers and various norms that must be adhered to, speaking through their work and inspiring others while also breaking out of the box of being objectified and subjectified.
The panelists were author and publisher Ameena Hussein, interdisciplinary artist and Pro Helvetia awardee Layla Gonaduwa and principal dancer of the Chitrasena Dance Company Thaji Dias.
“Art is an extension of our selves. We are laying our innermost thoughts and ideas and views out there. It bares your self, and as a woman it can be judged differently,” Layla observed.
Layla also discussed the disparity between the high percentage of women who are eligible to enter the fine arts stream at university level, at around 75%, and the significantly lower number of those who are able to keep engaging with art after they leave.
“There is this general perception that women come with a lot of baggage, and that is because of the multiple roles that we have. We have multiple roles to fulfil, so art sometimes falls by the wayside.”
Women are often forced to leave their art behind to take on the role of nurturer in the family. Though there is a greater awareness and understanding of this disparity these days, it is still happening at a high rate, she noted.
Sharing personal anecdotes from her own career, Ameena described the necessity of developing a thick skin and thinking twice about what she puts out there in her writing, due to the cultural inability to separate fact from fiction.
“Writing is seen as an appropriate avenue for a woman, especially in a conservative country like Sri Lanka. It is quiet, solitary, you can look after your children,”Ameena says of the current public perception of women writers, though quipping that none of those apply to her.
Despite observing an uptick in the number of manuscripts sent to her by women, Ameena acknowledges that while a lot of women may write, what they feel is appropriate to write about is still markedly different from what males may write about. Women are often compelled to publish under pseudonyms to avoid public scrutiny.
Growing up in a family of dancers, Thaji was always surrounded by strong women who blazed a trail with their dancing careers while balancing their family lives. As such the reputational risks of being a professional dancer became the norm for her. She was never made to feel demeaned in her profession, despite the Kandyan dance form being historically male dominant, due to the respect for the art form, as well as the respect that her family gave to dance and to their peers.
“It is very important to use art in this time to heal. That is what dance is all about, it began as healing and we continue to do it even on stage as healing for people. But I think for us as a company, it’s about also helping out the artists themselves, because we have a lot of artists who are really struggling and who depend on the dance to earn their living.”
Thaji observed that no matter which area in the creative field you look at, the pioneers have always been male. Even now, despite the female-dominated nature of her family, there is difficulty in finding their own space to work freely away from the social perception that the male figure is the leader.