Conflict on canvas

The portrayal of war and conflict through art is not a new phenomenon. From ancient cave paintings depicting tribal battles, to the Bayeux Tapestry illustrating the Battle of Hastings, right up to the contemporary paintings, sculptures and installations that we see today, each represents war in a particular way, depending on the artist’s viewpoint. Over the years, there has been a general shift in this viewpoint from perceiving war as something heroic to the something horrendous.

 

The conflict that has tainted Sri Lankan history for the last twenty years has been the subject of countless creative expressions by international and local artists. Amongst these are photographic exhibitions focusing on particular issues such as human rights violations, the plight of the displaced and the effects of war on children. There have also been more experimental and contemporary genres such as forum theatre, for example the theatre production ‘Checkpoint’, which took to the stage in Colombo last year to highlight corruption as one of the tragic by-products of the political unrest in Sri Lanka.

 

Among those artists who regularly emphasize the impact of conflict on society are Sri Lankan duo Bandu Manemperi and Roger Constantine. Their most recent exhibition was based on how human emotions have been numbed by frequent and continuous violence. The exhibition, entitled ‘Maze’, consisted of one large installation and a performance carried out by Manemperi and Constantine. Through this unconventional medium, they addressed the notion that we find psychological mechanisms to justify our distant and apathetic attitude towards war. Subsequently, we find ourselves in a kind of comfort zone, cut off from the suffering and despair taking place in different parts of the world. Or to put it in more metaphorical terms, we enter into a ‘maze’ and cannot see what is happening on the other side of the hedge.

 

Of course people all over the world are guilty of this and watch scenes of violence and devastation on their television screens with only mild and short lived empathy. But what makes the situation slightly different in Sri Lanka is that on this little island, many people living in the comparatively peaceful South manage to block out the atrocities happening to their fellow people in the North East. Whereas in other parts of the world, blame can be placed upon geographical factors such as distance, but this excuse does not wash in a country only 66,000 square kilometers in size.

 

In Bandu Manemperi’s own words, “we are made to understand the conflict through a connection of a series of incidents taking place around people in the North and South. It is a voicing of war sentiments. If we can relate these incidents to human relationships and try to understand them, then we will realize how we must act.”  So in effect, we need to re-learn how to apply emotion to the horror we see on television and read in the newspapers.

 

According to Constantine, class is a factor which only intensifies the separation of the North and South of Sri Lanka. “90% of the people who talk about the conflict belong to the upper class. Those who are suffering because of the war are mainly from the lower class.” Could it therefore be, that in order for human beings to truly empathize, the ‘victims’ in question must be exactly like ourselves in terms of race, religion and class? If art can bring this alarming possibility to people’s attention, perhaps it can also make people think and act differently with regard to the bigger picture.

 

As Sri Lanka sees yet more intensive fighting, further suffering and starvation through displacement, more children being forced into combat, increased kidnappings, assassinations and other countless gross violations of human rights taking place on a daily basis, people continue to look on with tired and apathetic glances. And after over two decades, some find it difficult to muster up even mild enthusiasm for a plausible solution. But if exhibitions such as ‘Maze’ can re-ignite human emotion in people and make them realize that the people they see on their television screens are their own, and the statistics they read in the newspaper all have faces, then perhaps as a consequence it may be possible to re-ignite the peace process in the same way.

 

By Nia Charpentier

 

Listen to a  YA^TV podcast of this story at  http://radio.voicesofpeace.lk/page.php?0/v/318