Grand gathering at Lunuganga

A record-breaking number of visitors, amounting to over 5400 people visited Lunuganga in Bentota over the weekend of July 21–23 for the To Lunuganga programme. Organised by the Geoffrey Bawa and Lunuganga Trusts, the programme, which celebrated the 75^th anniversary of Bawa’s garden Lunuganga, included talks, tours, exhibitions, and installations that reflected on the intertwining of ecology, art, and architecture.

Shayari de Silva, Chief Curator of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust, says “We could not think of a better way to celebrate Bawa’s 104^th birthday, which fell on July 23^rd. Spaces like Lunuganga hold a precious and inspiring space for creative thinking and empathy and we are delighted to be able to share it so widely with our community.”

Programme highlights included the 20th annual memorial lecture delivered by Isabela Ono, founder and executive director of the Instituto Burle Marx, Brazil, an installation titled Fluid Geographies by Mumbai-based artist Reena Kallat, a panel discussion with artists Reena Kallat (India), Firi Rahman (Sri Lanka) and architect Sumayya Vally (South Africa) moderated by trustee and executive director of M+ (Hong Kong) Suhanya Raffel and Geoffrey Bawa Trust Chief Curator Shayari de Silva.

The Astronomical Research Institute held a Star Party and Vimukthi Fernando from the University of Jayewardanepura took visitors through Honduwa island at Lunuganga, home to the endangered hog deer. The Bawa Trust is in partnership with the University of Jayawardenapura, for a hog deer research project, and the University of Peradeniya for a project on floral diversity.

The Trust is also partnering with the Royal College of Art in London to carry out a 3D-scanning research project to archive the garden using virtual reality. The project is led by architect and filmmaker Clara Kraft Isono, whose film Bawa’s Garden kicked off the programme on Thursday in Colombo.

Tours by Trust Chairperson Channa Daswatte, architect Amila de Mel and Prof. Sarath Kotagama of the University of Colombo were also popular. Concluding the launch weekend on Sunday, a series of gardens and greenspaces including Brief, Boutique 87, and Heritance Ayurveda were made accessible to visitors through Open House Colombo, curated by Geoffrey Bawa Trust Programme Manager Shanika Perera.

The programme calendar extends over three seasons from May 2023–August 2024. Upcoming projects include an exchange with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York, funded in part by a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts (Chicago) and an exhibition on Ena de Silva’s botanical interests, partially supported by Art South Asia Project (London).