Moving skies

By Marisa de Silva

Hemantha Arunasiri’s exhibitions are out of the ordinary: This poem on the sky follows his successful exhibition on tree barks in 2004. With 25 years in the field, he now works freelance and conducts a new course on Digital Art Photography at VAFA, which he himself has designed.

His photographic themes tend to revolve around nature as he has a keen interest in the workings of the environment and how it evolves. “I constantly observe nature closely as it’s quite meditative and relaxing,” he said.

In his last exhibition he took close-up pictures of about eight square inches and blew them up, showing the intricate colours, texture and form of individual tree barks that are not usually visible to the naked eye.

Even though he wanted to have a similar theme to his last exhibition, he wound up with a completely contrasting theme, this time, capturing the colours, texture and form of infinity; the clouds and sky to be exact.

One must be able to study and understand the sky to fully appreciate its beauty, he says. All his exhibits this time are digital.

“My idea to capture the various appearances of the sky actually came to me whilst attending a workshop at the ‘Bawa Gardens’ in Lunuganga recently as I lay on the grass staring up at the sky,” he said. “It’s amazing how there’s even an art to the way clouds form and disappear and form again within seconds…I’ve tried to capture the various cloud formations around the country, as they keep changing in appearance from place to place,” he explained.

His exhibition will feature skies from Kandy (his hometown), Nuwara Eliya, Hambantota, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa to name a few locations. “I’ve tried to get a good mix of both dry and wet zone areas, from times ranging from 5.30 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” he added.

‘The Sky – A Poem’ , a digital photography exhibition by Hemantha Arunasiri presented by the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts (VAFA), will be held on June 22 (5-7 p.m.) 23 and 24 from 9 a.m. – 8 p.m., at the Lionel Wendt Gallery.