Prints come alive with untold stories from the hills
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By Shanali Fernando
In the hidden hills of Pussellawa lies a neglected land, a community full of stories, a land Aadhitya Jayaseelan proudly calls home.
“Walking through the hills I felt this strong presence, an almost potent energy that I just couldn’t shake off,” she said as we sat down to chat about her newest collection named ‘From the Hills’ that was just launched at PR Sri Lanka. “I think it was the untold stories buried among the beauty of nature that surrounded me. Pussellawa is my mother’s hometown, and although we lived in the more elite part of the city it’s towards the jungle that the magic takes place.”
Aadhitya was born and raised here until her family decided to move to India in 2006 due to the communal disturbances. After completing her degree in architecture at Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering in Bangalore she moved back to Sri Lanka in 2019 to pursue her career. “I used to always draw comics at the back of my books and started with printing my drawings on totes and t-shirts and slowly moved on to doing my first clothing collection.”
‘From the Hills’ is a vibrant 100% linen ready-to-wear collection of dresses, shirts and pants with a unique print design translated from her own watercolour and acrylic interpretations of her homeland. Each artwork is digitized and converted to a garment printed in India, sewn and finished in Sri Lanka. “I used this as an outlet to tell the untold stories. To bring them to light at the same time making sure the wearer felt good as well.”
“From the Hills” is a six-piece limited edition collection. “Each piece has a story to tell like the Devil trumpet aka Datura which is a beautiful but poisonous flower planted at every hairpin bend, or the drawing of ammai (maternal mother) adorned to show abundance beside the Chidambaram temple with the Pulichakeerai flower which is a staple eaten with rice which holds a special place in my heart. Another piece is the drawing of my brother’s house which I spent a lot of time at.”
Alongside these stories so dear to her, there is a side of life that is hard to come to terms with. “Even though the community – the majority who are tea pluckers are so rich I felt, to be living in such a pristine environment where nature keeps giving to them in abundance, with the lack of education comes caste and class divisions, unresolved trauma, hierarchy systems and oppression that needs to be dealt with,” she says. “There are many different layers that need to be uncovered here, and I am looking forward to uncovering them with every visit back.”
The ‘From the Hills’ collection by Aadhitya Jayaseelan is available at PR Sri Lanka Horton Place and Galle Fort.
Follow her on @art_kayamai on Instagram
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