Saskia Fernando Gallery presents the galleries first group exhibition for 2017 with three female artists. This series of exhibitions titled ‘Emergency’ highlights the emerging talent that exists in the island with artists whose work stems from a core practice of drawing.
The three artists’ work blend and contrast to create a diverse presentation of varying mediums and themes. The exhibition will continue until April 10 and is open to the public daily from 10 am to 6 pm.
Nadia de Los Santos, originally from India and now based in Sri Lanka, series of drawings and wall sculpture of chairs.
“Most of my work prior to this dealt with the transitory nature of ‘home’; the objects and paintings created were easily portable so one could just take it with them and make the new place feel like their old one or their idea of home,” states Nadia.
“These are a collection of my impermanent feelings made permanent. A memento to the little things we overlook.”
Mika Tennekoon, a Sri Lankan artist now completing her studies at Santiniketan in India, worked on a series of paintings on old ledger paper and board depicting Mother Earth in varying surrounding. Mika references the writing of John Trudell in her pieces - ‘The Earth is our mother, we must take care of her.’
Hanusha Somasunderam studied at the University of Jaffna and now works from her hometown Hatton. Her work is entirely dedicated to highlighting the strife of tea pluckers in the tea industry of Sri Lanka. As the child of a tea plucker her early years were spent in the nurseries of line houses.
In the body of work she uses the pay slips and compressed tea strainers as material on which she illustrates the stories.
“My art is a representative of my society. A respectable wage that is still out of sight after heart breaking efforts for generations, a life without the basic human needs and a troublesome childhood with so many barriers,” says Hanusha.
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