Archives: Gallery Items

Tyre

Rubber Collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Broken Hands’, Heritage Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1997 The use of found objects to make art has been employed by many modern and contemporary artists for over a century. By elevating an everyday object to the status of a work of art, artists have called into question what is Read More

Refugees Returning to Talaimannar (1991)

Archival digital print from original ‘C’ type photograph Collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ first published by Garnet, United Kingdom, 1993 ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ first published by Stephen Champion, 2008 Stephen Champion’s first book of photographs ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ was published in 1993. He self-published his second book ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ in 2008. The Read More

Displacement (2015)

Bicycle seat Collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Colomboscope’, Rio Cinema, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2015 M. Vijitharan was forced to flee his home in the north of Sri Lanka, during the last stages of the civil war. Much of his work, as a young artist, has revolved around the experience of his displacement and that of Read More

Study for Kannagi (c. 1963–72)

Bronze Private Collection, Melbourne First exhibited: ‘one hundred thousand small tales’, Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2018 Kannagi—goddess, wife, virgin and heroine of the great Tamil epic ‘Silappadikaram’ is a widely worshipped figure for Hindus in Sri Lanka and South India. She is conjointly venerated by Sinhala Buddhists who refer to her as Pattini, the Read More

Missing (1995)

Etching Collection the artist First exhibited: ‘T. Shanaathanan’, Paradise Road Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2008 The exploration of loss and displacement in T. Shanaathanan’s work is often accompanied by a composite of viewpoints. While his early works experimented with aerial viewpoints more recent works have introduced narrative perspectives. The element of story-telling, however, has always Read More

Artefacts from Jaffna (2013)

Artist’s book Collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Open Call: Mobile Library Project’, Park Street Mews, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2013 ‘Artefacts from Jaffna’ is a book that appears to only consist of empty pages. On closer inspection, however, each page records a piece of furniture, an object or curio, delineated as a hand-embossed line drawing, present Read More

No Glory (1998)

Terracotta Collection the artist First exhibited: ‘No Glory’, Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1998 In the years following the anti-Tamil riots that took place in Colombo on 23 July 1983, Sarath Kumarasiri created a series of works in memory of those that lost their lives. Using clay, he sculpted items of clothing such Read More

Prosthetic Feet, Jaffna (1987)

Archival digital print from original ‘C’ type photograph All works collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ first published by Garnet, United Kingdom, 1993 ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ first published by Stephen Champion, 2008 Stephen Champion’s first book of photographs ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ was published in 1993. He self-published his second book ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ in Read More

Monks on TV, Colombo (2007)

Archival digital print from original ‘C’ type photograph All works collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ first published by Garnet, United Kingdom, 1993 ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ first published by Stephen Champion, 2008 Stephen Champion’s first book of photographs ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ was published in 1993. He self-published his second book ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ in Read More

J.R on TV, Colombo (1989)

Archival digital print from original ‘C’ type photograph All works collection the artist First exhibited: ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ first published by Garnet, United Kingdom, 1993 ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ first published by Stephen Champion, 2008 Stephen Champion’s first book of photographs ‘Lanka 1986–1992’ was published in 1993. He self-published his second book ‘Sri Lanka: War Stories’ in Read More

Glitch V (2016)

Acrylic on canvas Private collection, Colombo First shown: ‘Glitch’, Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2016 ‘Glitch V’ comes from a larger body of paintings made by Chandraguptha Thenuwara as part of the artist’s annual exhibition held for the last twenty years on 23 July, the anniversary of the anti-Tamil riots that took place in Read More

’83 (2016)

Stop motion animation (4.38 min) Collection the artists First screened: Agenda 14 Short Film Festival, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2016 The animation is a fictional account about a middle-aged Sinhalese man named Anton, who lives with his wife in a small house in Colombo. His life is filled with despair and guilt following the riots of Read More

Kerosene (2011)

DVD film (8.45 min) All works collection the artist Commissioned by Groundviews, Colombo First screened: ‘Moving Images’, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2011 In the 1990s, to frustrate the operations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist militant group fighting for independence, the Sri Lankan government imposed embargoes on fuel, medicines and food items Read More

Paper (2011)

DVD film (7.55 min) All works collection the artist Commissioned by Groundviews, Colombo First screened: ‘Moving Images’, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2011 In the 1990s, to frustrate the operations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist militant group fighting for independence, the Sri Lankan government imposed embargoes on fuel, medicines and food items Read More

Mazari Chieftain with Young Girl (2019)

Plasticine, ceramic, found objects All works collection the artist Tissa De Alwis’ work stems from a deep fascination with military history and the narratives of conquests, battles and military allegiances that have defined modern history. His works take the form of sculptural tableaus that originate from the environment of his bedroom cum studio installation, an Read More