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| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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Druvinka's art is immersed in the subconscious : Shades of India by Daveena Pakianathan "When I paint, I have an abrupt and restless rhythm controlled by internal compulsion and concern for composition.
I allow myself to be swept away, give myself to my image which finally breaks to the surface, transfigured with desire, by its immersion in a subconscious coloured by dreams." This was how freelance artist Druvinka expressed her experience of the creative process. Druvinka is a Sri Lankan presently living in Mysore, South India. Druvinka's art is a self-created self-propelled aesthetic. She is an artist with a distinct talent and unique style. She holds a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts (Painting), as well a post-graduate diploma in painting from the Visva Bharati, Santiniketan Institute of West Bengal, India. She has held several art exhibitions in Sri Lanka, the U.K., France, India and various group exhibitions abroad. She is a founder member of "We are International" in U.K. to provide a link and moral support for artists of different nationalists. Druvinka is a artist who lives and works with paintings. She is not a commercial artist who goes for money, she does this for her own self satisfaction. Her paintings are very personal. They make viewers think again and again about their technical accomplishments, then the subject matter. Her previous works dealt with the world of refugees, and karmic forces. Living and working in India has endowed her recent work with an Indian touch, enabling her to experiment with various styles while retaining her identity. All her paintings this time are about the emblem of Lord Shiva-the lingam; universally venerated in South India. Druvinka has adopted the new technical skills she achieved at Santiniketan. She has used Nepalese bamboo paper on canvas and a variety of transparent colours on it. Her elegant creations, small and large scale works, will be presented at her art exhibition, at Barefoot Gallery Colombo, from 12 May - 01 June. ########### Bogala Saundiris: the revolt of the slave-driven labourer by LAKMAL WELABADA
The outcry of the slave-driven labourers in the graphite mines against the new rich middle class during the British colonial era in Sri Lanka inspired Dayaratne Ratagedara's newest tele-story `Bogala Saundiris'. It shows currently on Rupavahini every Saturday at 8.30 pm. This is considered to be one of the biggest tele productions ever undertaken in Sri Lanka. The tele-series discusses not only the revolt in the graphite mining industry, but also the political changes of the time, especially the independence movement launched against the British reign by Sri Lankan leaders from 1880 to 1930, says Director Ratagedara. After escaping from police remand Saundiris looks for a hiding place. With the help of a lawyer he disguises himself as a labourer in a graphite mine. Through the same lawyer he soon gets into the good books of the employers. His rustic vulgar personality is used by his employers to crush the unionization of the labourers. Soon Saundiris becomes a known thug among them. Saundiris who at first licks the shoes of the ruling class, gradually realizes that he is destroying the people of his own class. He sees the agony of the labourers who risk their lives to mine graphite in the deep quarries to earn a few cents for their living, while the employers thrive off them. What will Saundiris' fate be if he decides to take the side of his own class, the labourers?
The script written by Sarath Dharmasiri is based on his own book `Bogala Saundiris', which won the Wayamba Literary Award for the best novel. The story is a blend of historical incidents that took place in Sri Lanka during the British colonial period. Director Ratagedara said he selected the story of the 'Bogala Saundiris' since he was determined to present a new creation which would awaken the senses of Sri Lankan TV viewers who have been restricted to a diet of soap operas for a long time, whether they liked it or not. 'Bogala Saundiris', a production of the Rupavahini Corporation was videoed at the Kahatagaha mine at Dodangaslanda, Kurunegala. Areas in Galle, Homagama and Horana were the other locations used. The camera crew and the actors had some terrible, yet exciting moments when shooting inside the mine which was 2000-3000 feet below sea level. Shriyantha Mendis plays the main role as Bogala Saundiris. ########### Last man standing 'Last man standing' is based on Akira Kurosawa's classic film Yojimbo, and is written and directed by renowned filmmaker Walter Hill, and produced by Arthur Sarkissian. The film will be screened at Majestic from May 9 to 21. John Smith (Bruce Willis) is a gun for hire, a man faithful only to his own code of honour, who seems to have neither a past nor a future. In prohibition-era Texas, Smith drifts into dusty Jericho, a lonely border town home to two deadly gang illegally bringing booze into the country from Mexico. Starring Bruce Willis (Die Hard with a vengeance, Twelve monkeys), Bruce Dern (Wild Bill, Coming Home), Academy Award winner Christopher Walken and Karina Lombard (Legends of the fall). Written and directed by Walter Hill (48 hrs, Hard Times, Wild Bill), produced by Arthur Sarkissian (While you were sleeping). ########### Amandla: History re-written by E. Weerapperuma AMANDLA, a film with a difference. A two hour documentary on struggle for freedom by the people of South Africa was indeed a unique and timely story. The film which had won the Documentary Audience Award and Freedom of Expression Award at the SUNDANCE Film Festival was a Kwela production presentation in association with BOMB, Cinemax Reel Life, South African Broadcasting Corporation and the Ford Foundation. It was screened at the Bishop's College, Colombo. The show was organised by the South African High Commission and the Honorary Consul in Sri Lanka. We suggest that the film should be shown to the entire country on TV for the edification of the Sri Lankans. The film provides a comprehensive, an easily followed history of apartheid and stirring account of courage and spirit in the face of unendurable hardship and injustice along with a detailed analysis of how freedom music changed over time to reflect the state of the movement. The film AMANDLA which means "power" in the Xhosa language directed by Lee Hirsch and produced by Lee Hirsch and Sherry Simpson with the South African producer Desiree Markgraaff looks at the subversive power of the music, which had brought triumph to the blacks in the South Africa over the brutal reign of apartheid. If the intention of the director of this film was to let the audience capture the infectious spirit of the music, and creating an unforgettable experience, he has achieved it. It is undoubtedly an emotional journey for all including the producers and the audience who watch it as it brings out the history of a voice that gave courage, hope and comfort. It is a chronological summary of the key events of struggle, half a century of oppression which the director recapped through archival material and interviews. These include the forced relocation of black citizens from their once-thriving-townships into box-like houses in government controlled communities, the introduction of compulsory "passbooks" in 1950, for all the black citizens, the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, when white police opened fire on blacks at a demonstration and the imprisonment of Mandela in 1964. The film covers the decade of repressed dissent and silence that followed: the 1976 Soweto uprising, when 575 people, including many children were killed while protesting the government's introduction of Afrikaans - language of oppression - as the official language in the high schools; the crystallization of the struggle in the 1970s and 80s, when global anti-apartheid intervention and sanctions shone an accusatory spotlight on the white government; and the historic 1994 election when black South Africans went to polls for the first time, giving African National Congress (ANC) 63 per cent of the vote. Music is very close to the Africans' hearts and has tremendous influence over the lives of these people. With every song there is a story of joy, pain and of heartbreak. They better understand the message put across to them through music and get inspiration, get motivated to fight the enemy. The director successfully couples narrating of events and music and let the audience understand the power of music as a formidable communication method to move people to action, to express their protest and survival through over a 40 year struggle against apartheid. Many of the songs originally written for other purposes - love songs- or little tunes about domestic workers' day off from the plantations had become part of the movement for Freedom and their lyrics adapted to serve the struggle. The white-regime banned by the White-regime that imposed racial segregation in 1948 tend to be national anthems at the end of the apartheid in 1990. The film or the documentary ends with a visit to pauper's cemetery, where the singer-songwriter-activist Vuyisile Mini was dumped in a grave after being hanged in 1964. He is considered the greatest composer of freedom songs in South African history. The story is that Mini had walked to the gallows singing. The film shows his bones exhumed to give a proper burial ceremony in 1998. The audience see towards the end of the film, the triumphant march the people with Mandela and one compares him to Moses who the" chosen people to the promise land". The film had taken ten years to complete as it had observed at the role and character of song during the struggle for liberation in South Africa and features a combination of well known political figures and musicians such as Vuysile Mini, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Bolly Rathebe, Sophie Mgcina, Thandi Modise, Lindwe Zulu, Vusi Mahlasela and others as well as many unknown and unsung heroes. This is a poignant portrayal of the spirit of humanity. |
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