Art gives a new frame to festival
Pramodha Weerasekara
The Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival which enters its final day today at the Colombo Public Library has ventured into new territory this year by expanding its focus on art alongside its foundation in literature.
The exhibition which accompanied the festival reflects the diversity and complexity of Sri Lankan experiences by showcasing both native and diasporic Sri Lankan artists.
The exhibition features an eclectic mix of artists, showcasing diverse mediums and themes. Colombo-based fashion designer and interdisciplinary artist Nimna Wickramasinghe used “passport pictures” to examine the concept of identity while criticising its inability to accurately convey a person’s narrative. For studio ceramicist Senali Nihara Cooray clay is the medium to create an emotive tale after drawing inspiration from a childhood experience.
Figurative painter Mayantha Perera, said he appreciates the initiative’s platform to share his vision.
Well known artist and professor at the University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Chandraguptha Thenuwara also underlined the need for additional art-related venues, emphasising how each piece of art has an own story to tell and enhances cross-cultural communication.
New territory for CLF: Art alongside literature. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Curating her first major show, Pramodha Weerasekara, said she approached visual art from her distinct perspective of her training in English literature and her beginnings as a writer.
“These artists in particular, I wanted to choose, to show these different stories of living in Sri Lanka… There are some artists who are mostly speaking about living abroad as diaspora Sri Lankans. Then there are very local artists also.”
The theme of the exhibition, semi-autobiography, aligns closely with Pramodha’s literary sensibilities. Referencing an excerpt from Sylvia Plath about a fig tree, she connected the theme to the need for choices in life and art, emphasizing its relevance to both literature and visual art.
Co-Founder and Director, HSBC Ceylon Literary and Arts Festival, Ajai Vir Singh, highlighted the significance of blending literature and arts. “I personally, because I come from fashion and design, am a firm believer that all the creative streams have synergy and they work together. They’re just different expression forms.” He elaborated that this synergy represents the art and culture of a society, which he identified as “the soft power of a country.”
The festival, he explained, seeks to enhance Sri Lanka’s soft power, offering a frame for how people view the nation. “Our whole motive is, how do we enhance the soft power of Sri Lanka because that’s what we need to frame… And we need to create a frame so that people look at Sri Lanka in a different way, in today’s day and age.”
All artwork exhibited is on sale.
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