Shaping Colombo’s creative landscape
View(s):- Adilah Ismail highlights four cultural and community spaces in Colombo that are making their mark
Lakmahal Community Library
In 2022, Anisha Dias Bandaranaike turned her family home in Colombo 03 into a community library which has grown into a formative, dynamic community space in the city – the Lakmahal Community Library is testament to how libraries are not merely static, stodgy repositories of information and can be vital cultural and community hubs for interaction and engagement.
“Our vision for the library has really grown and taken shape over the last two years. We have a much clearer idea of what we want our collection and programmes to look like. We really want Lakmahal to be the locus of strong community that cultivates creativity and diverse ways of thinking through creative writing and storytelling and are slowly working our way towards that goal,” noted Anisha via email.
Built in 1937 and with an open-air verandah overlooking a verdant garden, lots of natural light and ventilation, a working and writing space and reading nooks within the library, the space is one that lends itself to reading, writing and a moment of reprieve from everyday life. On most days the Lakmahal Community Library is often bustling with readers and visitors of all ages.
Curado: A happy space for art lovers. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Open from Wednesday to Sunday, the library houses 3,000 books in its collection, focusing primarily on creative works with an emphasis on fiction, along with memoirs and biographies, creative nonfiction, poetry, plays, and graphic novels. The library also hosts a range of different clubs – sci fi and fantasy book club, poetry club, feminist book club, queer book club, and the muse collective journaling club, among others – and regularly holds events.
Annual membership is Rs. 5,000 and quarterly memberships are Rs. 2,500. For the first three months, members can only borrow one book at a time, but after that they can borrow up to six books at a time.
Socials: @lakmahalcmb on Instagram
Upcoming events:
- July 14 – Poetry of Anne Ranasinghe: Talk by Rajiva Wijesinha
- July 20 – Creative writing workshop by Andrew Fowler Watt
- July 21 – Workshop by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
- July 28 – Beginners portrait drawing workshop
SNAFU Project
The SNAFU project is not a restaurant, art gallery, nightlife space or venue for discussions, screenings and workshops – but it’s also very much all of these things. The amorphous cultural space began in September 2022 during Sri Lanka’s economic and political crisis, when many creative professionals began moving out of the island. Its name is an acronym from antiquated military slang used by officers reporting from unstable areas and felt especially apt when starting the space amidst the 2022 crisis.
Lakmahal, both library and meeting ground
What marks SNAFU is its ethos and multi-use nature and fluidity. SNAFU was envisioned as an independent and safe space dedicated to non-mainstream culture as well as a space for cultural nourishment, artistic engagement and communal joy. Led by co-directors and founders Givanke Goonetilleke and Asvajit Boyle, SNAFU is a team effort by Nihara Fernando, Natasha Ginwala, Jan Ramesh de Saram and Lalindra Amarasekara who were keen to carve a welcoming community cultural space in a time of heightened uncertainty.
Self-funded for one and a half years, the team adopted a brisk hands-on, all-hands-on-deck approach to renovating and building up the space – once a building that housed an apparel store which folded during the economic crisis – sometimes sourcing furniture from their own homes and painting the interiors themselves. Now crowd-funded and with the support of patrons, SNAFU has hosted live music performances, film screenings, talks, art exhibitions and window showcases (creative work exhibited in a compact, street-facing window display) over the years.
Located on Kynsey Road, Colombo 07, SNAFU is hard to miss: a colourful mural adorns the entrance and a sandwich bar which faces the main road. The 2500-square foot space can accommodate 40 – 60 people at seated capacity, 200 – 250 at standing capacity and has a small outdoor garden space, a restaurant, compact gallery and an event space.
SNAFU as seen from Kynsey Road
Socials: @snafuproject on Instagram
Upcoming events:
- July 17 – Poetry Night
- July 19 – Live A/V performance by Non-Applicable with support from Cracklepop
- July 20 – Visual Programming Workshop with Lalindra Amarasekara
- July 24 – A workshop on Subjectivities in reporting, documenting & activism with Amalini De Sayrah
- August 1 – Colomboscope Exhibition Opening
- August 23- Jambutek Recordings record label showcase
Studio Kayamai
Studio Kayamai is a small, fledgling space with large dreams. Located on Havelock Road, it began in 2022 as a safe space for artists to express themselves and for people to find a community in their creative journeys. “We think of Studio Kayamai as a community space. A place for people to heal, connect and grow. And we hope to continue to grow as a safe third space in Sri Lanka,” noted Aadhitya Jayaseelan founder, director and artist via email.
When we visit last Saturday on an open studio day, three women are sprawled on the ground, painting colourful murals in the studio’s walls – the space is for the community and is built and supported by the community with many giving their time and energy into the running of the space, notes Studio Manager, Thaveesha Fernando.
Consisting of two floors along with studios as well as a small commercial space and exhibition space, plans are underfoot to obtain funding for refurbishment and further consolidate the studio. In the past years, Studio Kayamai has collaborated with creatives to hold full moon and new moon circles, jewellery workshops, various intuitive art workshops, scribble, AI and painting workshops, dance workshops, glass workshops, menstruality circles, oracle card readings, sketch and comic workshops. It has also hosted gatherings such as potlucks, poetry readings, movie screenings, monthly open studio days and networking events.
Studio Kayamai
“Kayamai is an ancient Tamil word that means lowness, spiteful, vengeful – my point is how can a word so old carry such negative connotation at this point in time? We give power and meaning to words by reacting to it. We can choose to react to it positively or negatively. For me, Kayamai means bold, powerful, a rebel, a fighter. I choose to look at it and embrace it as a positive word in my practice. Ultimately, for me it’s a reminder to question everything,” says Aadhitya, explaining the significance of the studio’s name.
Socials: @studiokayamai on Instagram
Upcoming events:
July 21 – Discussion with artist Firi Rahman on “What it means to belong”
July 25- Poetry & resistance gathering to express solidarity with Palestine
August 10 – 27 – Exhibition by artists Roshan de Selfa and Nimna Wickramasinghe featuring tours and workshops
Curado Art Space
The proprietor of a picture framing shop for 22 years, Shanila Alles worked closely with artists to frame their art and began getting to know Sri Lanka’s art world through her work as a framer. When COVID-19 hit, she was moved to begin a platform for artists to showcase their work, connect artists with different audiences and clientele, and uplift Sri Lankan artists.
“It’s been a positive response. Artists are happy, clients are happy, interior designers are happy. People who visit Sri Lanka are happy that there’s a place to see a whole cross section of art. We have prices ranging from low to very high. We have something for non-art lovers, we have something for people just getting into art and we have something for art collectors as well,” explains Shanila.
Located on Park Road, Curado Art Space’s hot pink doors beckon visitors into three floors of art works by Sri Lankan artists. The first two floors feature the gallery’s permanent collection which rotate every few months while the third floor is an exhibition space which can be rented out. Last month, the art space concluded an exhibition by artists Pala Pothupitiye and Anoli Perera responding to Arjun Appadurai’s five scapes of globalization.
Socials: @curadoartspace on Instagram
Upcoming events:
- July 19 – 25 – Birds of Paradise by Vraie Cally Balthazaar in collaboration with Dinushi Pamunuwa
- July 30 –August 12 – Avian Narratives by Lester Perera
- August 16 – 29 – An Exhibition by Nipuni Mallika Hettiarachchi
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