Anoma Wijewardene answers the door in a paint splattered top. Her lovely home, with its long, open rooms and beautiful garden is obviously her haven, hidden in plain sight in the middle of the bustling city. High walls keep the sound of traffic out and the white living room is so airy that a bird wings through while we’re still talking.
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| Anoma: Celebrating the richness of Earth |
This is the quiet before the storm, only the constant ringing of her phone an indication that things aren’t as relaxed as they seem. Anoma is bracing herself for the busiest of times – her first major solo exhibition in Sri Lanka since ‘Quest’ in 2006. Sprawling across multiple venues, ‘Deliverance’ which will feature the artist’s usual jubilant mix of media - paintings, photography and sculpture - is also built around a theme, this one environmental.
A truly international artist, Anoma has exhibited widely. She has debuted solo collections at Stella Downer Gallery Sydney, Galerie Taksu Kuala Lumpur, One&Only Maldives and Art Heritage New Delhi as well as at Paradise Road Galleries and Barefoot Gallery in Sri Lanka. Her latest is intended to raise awareness of a subject that Anoma seems to feel deeply - and increasingly desperately - about. A hint can be found in the exhibition dates themselves – picked to coincide with the Earth Summit in Rio.
As an artist, the world’s wild, beautiful places have inspired her, unblocking her creativity time and again; and as the daughter of Ray Wijewardene she grew up in a home where the environment was of concern well before Al Gore made any videos. When her father passed away just under two years ago, Anoma says she found herself trapped in her sorrow and unable to paint. “I think I was grieving till I went to Rwanda,” she says. A visit with the wild mountain gorillas there is not an experience she will soon forget and she returned, rejuvenated by her time with them.
In the months since, Anoma has poured herself into her work – creating paintings that are inspired by Ray and by what he loved. An exhibition catalogue will be on sale at the event, Anoma explains, the proceeds to go toward the Trust that bears her father’s name. ‘Deliverance,’ however, is also noteworthy in the collaboration it represents between Anoma and her dear friend, the award winning poet Ramya Jirasinghe. Having shown Ramya her paintings, Anoma invited her to write a poem that would add another dimension to the series. Ramya seemed to instinctually grasp what Anoma was saying in her work – she got the poem right on her first try.
Lines from Ramya’s poem, titled ‘Deliverance’ serve to both explicate and caption Anoma’s new paintings. A second poem by Ramya, more experimental in format, is inspired by the words of some of the other poets that Anoma loves.
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| Will we refuse to enter |
Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda |
The latter will accompany a series of glass sculptures, explains Anoma. Poetry is combined with prose - Karin Fernando, a senior researcher at the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), created the factual context for the paintings, offering information about the effect of global warming on the planet. (Both poetry and prose will appear in all three languages.) The group’s ambitions are focused not on overwhelming their viewers but on encouraging them to fight the good fight. This is an exhibition meant to celebrate the riches of the earth, says Anoma, who herself increasingly feels a connection, a sense of responsibility for the planet.
The artist, who confesses to a profound fascination with the fluidity of water has found ways to explore its changeability – creating canvases that seem to shift and ripple under the lights. Her other works give us a glimpse of the artist in a playful mood – a set of pictures created on an iPad had Anoma drawing with her finger on the touchscreen. Working with photographs, she inserts figures, morphs the landscape and plays with perspective. In one of the venues, Anoma will mount a series of 7 panels based on photographs taken on the beach at the national park in Yala.
In recent years, Anoma’s work has become increasingly interactive. Rooted in her conviction that all humans are stakeholders in the planet’s future, Anoma would like to see the exhibition instigate more than one conversation. While segments are interactive, she has also planned ‘message boards’ on which the viewers can dialogue with each other. An alumna of Central St Martin’s College of Art, University of the Arts, London, Anoma has served as a visiting lecturer at several British art colleges including her alma mater. Today, she credits her nearly instinctive desire to challenge her viewers to those 10 years spent teaching young students. “I like to ask questions. That’s the way I like to lead people into conversation,” she says.
‘Deliverance’ is on from June 13 – July 18 at the Paradise Road Galleries at Alfred House Gardens and Saskia Fernando Gallery on Dharmapala Mw. as well as at a third, yet to be announced public location. The exhibition is sponsored by HSBC. |
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