|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 27 July 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
July 1983: Uncommemorative commemoration by Farah Macan Markar
Barrels splashed with a mixture of yellow, green and black lurk ominously in a row, darkened by the fading light. The night has come, bringing with it the darkness, which echoes the memories these barrels once evoked. The barrels of war. A war which has torn our country to pieces for 20 years, shredding lives wherever it swept, and which now lies slumbering under a thin veil of sleep. Peace. The date is July 18 . It is a Friday night, in which these barrels and their counterpart paintings and other exhibits, have their opening at the VAFA Gallery. "Uncommemorative Commemoration". The creators of these works are Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Jagath Weerasinghe, Kingsley Gunatillake, and Alumni students Kusal Nandana, Manjula Priyadarshana, Arjuna Gunarathna, Saman Sugandha, Chandana Wasantha, Bandu Manamperi, Chammika Jayawardena and Anura Krishantha.
Wherever one looks, the artists' works bring back memories of what happened in a July, 20 years ago. What happened and its cost. The spring of war. The tide of death. The fragility of peace. The barrels (Thenuwara) are outside. Inside the gallery lies a shell a bomb blast (Alumni). A blasted car, door askew, tire-blown up. Empty trousers and shoes, that were once worn by living human beings, now no more. Everything is covered in a thin layer of what seemed like ash. The name of this installation-"Peace is fragile". In a corner of a wall hangs a mattress embedded with hundreds of nails (Chammika). On its right is a wooden Year Planner (Kingsley) whose gay coloured top is disturbed by the dark gloom of colours hanging threateningly from its bottom. Two black "Anotapthawila" (Jagath) depict that even the celestial ponds of heaven have been burnt with the ashes of war. "Dance of Victory" (Thenuwara) speaks with a lot of irony about the victories of war. They are dancing frenziedly, on one leg.
"Twenty years have passed. We all have to say sorry to the Tamil people. Forgive even if we are not forgiven. Most, if not all the artists here are Sinhalese. We all want to say sorry" says Thenuwara. That what has happened should not be forgotten, but remembered as a warning of the butchery of war, "Uncommemorative Commemoration" serves as a reminder of the fragility of peace, and importance of protecting it. "Peace is not just a state issue", says Thenuwara "Peace is for the people, and if it is to last the people need to get actively involved in it. We as artists want to make people aware of this through our works". Showing the reality of war and the fragility of peace, the artistic creations also show that many aspects of war are hidden, camouflaged. Thenuwara speaking of his three series of "camouflage" pictures, painted in the camouflaging colours of yellow, green and black, as that of the combat suits, says "There are many social, cultural and civil issues of war which are not brought into light. We are shown war heroes, but the reality of war is hidden, camouflaged. Like the soldiers in camouflage suits I have used their colours in my paintings and barrels to depict this". One such picture is that of the camouflaged landscape of an aftermath of a battle field where the trees, shrubs, limbs, arms, and earth mix and mingle as one. The second picture depicts the camouflage costume of the LTTE, and the third more complex one is that of the interwoven camouflage of the Sri Lankan Army. The Alumni students (Kusal, Manjula, Arjuna, Saman, Chandana, Bandu, Chammika and Anura) speaking of their installation depicting a bomb blast ("Peace is fragile") in which they have used real things covered with the dusts of chalk, say "This is how we see peace. A fragile thing which can easily be destroyed". Just as it takes one strong gust of wind to disturb the ashes, it could take just one hand to break peace. Says Chammika of his thorny bed spread in which he has used 2000 nails, "This is the broken promise of war. people sometimes join up because of the promises of new clothes and a bed to sleep on. But you cannot sleep in war. War has no sleep or peace. Only pain". |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
