Remains of the Day: 9.5.22
On this day, one year ago, I was alone in my studio working intensely on some paintings totally unaware of the chaos emerging and gathering momentum in my city, where government supporters…
Arts and Theatre
Kamala Vasuki: Bringing Truth Through Art
Kamala Vasuki is an artist and feminist activist who has continuously reacted and responded to oppressive, marginalizing and silencing mechanisms through her social action and her expressions through art. The work she…
Celebrating Female Artists
Twelve women artists are celebrating International Women’s Day this year with a group exhibition entitled With My Back to the World at the Saskia Fernando Gallery curated by Mariyam Begum and Ashini…
Commemorating Sri Lanka’s 2022 Protest Movement
“Come, join us in jail!” read the invitation to artist Sujith Rathnayake’s exhibition-cum-provocation, Crisis & Struggle. Indeed, a visitor to the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery in Colombo was quickly confronted by a…
Rusted Metal, Bloodied Minds – Crisis and Struggle
When the GotaGoGama Protest site was attacked by supporters of Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 9, a row of tents were destroyed and burned to the ground by the rowdy gang that descended…
Gaadi: An Exercise in Near Perfection
Prasanna Vithanage’s Gaadi takes place in the last year of the Kandyan Kingdom. It begins with an encounter between Ehelepola Adigar and John D’Oyly and moves on to scenes of the two…
Sumitra: Last Emissary of a Bygone Era
My Lunches with Orson is the title of a collection of interviews that Henry Jaglom, a US avant-garde filmmaker, did with Orson Welles over a period of two years (1983-1985). It is…
Jungle and the Sea: A Tale of Courage, Hope and Survival
Following the runaway success of his first play, Counting and Cracking, writer and director S. Shakthidharan has produced a new play called Jungle and the Sea, which has received enthusiastic reviews since…
Brilliance and Resilience
There have been dark times in Sri Lanka in 2022. Economic anxiety and disruption of existing supply chains for the essential services of food, gasoline, petrol and electricity led to profound distress…
Counting and Cracking: A Journey of Learning, Healing and Understanding
It debuted to rave reviews in Australia in early 2019 and met with the same response in Edinburgh and Birmingham. Despite recounting very personal and Sri Lankan experiences, S. Shakthidaran’s Counting and Cracking…
GotaGoGama: A Learning Curve
GotaGoGama is gone. Gota has returned. Things have regressed in the past two months or so. The nucleus of Sri Lanka’s popular protests have ceased to exist. Its last days were a…
Performance Art and Political Protest
Performance art is an offshoot of visual arts where the artist uses his or her body as a medium of communication. Performance art has always been interconnected with society and politics. Artists…
Atrocities of the Civil War Through the Eyes of Artists
A common theme running through this year’s Colomboscope, entitled Language is Migrant, is the enduring consequences of Sri Lanka’s civil war as seen through the eyes of several young artists based in…
The Extraordinary Life, Times and Talent of Laki Senanayake
Laki is seated on a black, high-backed, padded executive swivel chair. He is bare-bodied, in a bright red sarong, dappled sunlight catching his white beard. On the table in front of him…
Vajira – the Creator of Children’s Ballets
Histories of the tri-traditional dances of Sri Lanka – Kandyan, Low Country and Sabaragamuwa – generally highlight a handful of pioneering women, point out their significance as the first female dancers on…
