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It’s a political act
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Through his work, Kumarasiri responds to his immediate situations
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IMMEDIATE Kumarasiri: ‘Many of my friends and relatives were among these victims’
Being a resident of subcontinent marked by acute political upheavals, Sri Lankan sculptor Sharath Kumarasiri tries to give shape to the oppressive situations and anxious moments in his work. He narrates how a “large number of youth fell victim
to organised political violence” and where “many of my friends and relatives were among these victimised youth.” “This was the background in which I started to do my first series of sculptures. In my sculptures, I tried to capture the pain the youth suffered through various acts of violence, and the energy and anxiety of their struggle for survival. I did a series of compositions taking the human torso and through these torsos, I recreated the same marks of violence made by the state-sponsored vigilantes on the human bodies of their victims. I have tried to use various art mediums to capture the graphic realities.” Kumarasiri holds a B.F.A. degree in sculpture and M.A. in Archaeology from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and has attended a program at Royal College of Art, London. He has participated in several group shows and international residencies in Japan, Sweden, India, and Sri Lanka.
He has also been involved with several interesting projects in Sri Lanka ; has co-ordinateda video documentary for UNESCO on a Sri Lankan Craft Village (2002); and managed a studio and workshop for terracotta, ceramics and paper crafts (1997-2005). He is resource person for the Ministry of Rural and Small Industries of Sri Lanka and has been the core member of Theertha International Artists’ Collective.
Sculpted objects
The 40-year-old sculptor has always responded to happenings in his immediate surroundings and situations. “The objective behind my recent works was to make an intervention by bringing in mementos of the average citizen in to an exclusive space such as a museum where memorialising usually is restricted to political and cultural elite of the country.” For instance, Kumarasiri reconstructed a pair of jeans and a pair of shoes in terracotta. These were used by his friends who were victims of the civil war in Sri Lanka. While in Fukuoka, he collected objects used by people who were killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Pacific War as well as in the air-raids on Fukuoka and made terracotta sculptures.
One also recalls that as a participant of the Khoj International Artists’ workshop held in Mysore in 2002, Kumarasiri had responded to the Cauvery water dispute and the resultant political ramifications. The Sri Lankan has been in an artist’s residency in Bangalore for the last two months. “I have tried to portray the textures of Bangalore,” says Kumarasiri, about his three- piece sculpture which represent the different facets of Bangalore.
The work will be on display at 1, Shanthi Road studio/gallery till July 24.
GIRIDHAR KHASNIS
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