Artistic vibrations of joy
by Thushara Kulatunga
Art culture in Sri Lanka is one
that's steadily growing even though some people (with enough
justification) would say that it's not happening fast enough. You can
nevertheless see an emergence of a new generation of artists in Sri
Lanka who are experimenting with different modes of expression as
opposed to just creations on a canvas. I recently met up and had a chat
with one such individual.
 Sunara Jayamanne is a new up and coming artist who currently resides
in Mount Lavinia. She began painting at an early age with encouragement
from her grandfather. "But when I started art in school which was in
year 9, I really hated it and I stopped drawing after O' levels".
She went on to say that this was because of the constant pressure
from teachers and an inability to draw to a specific time limit. She
picked up on it again a few years later as a result of a random
experiment of charcoal on paper and hearing much praise about it later.
Sunaras preferred medium of expression at this point is clothe. "The
reason I like to paint on clothes, is for one, I always try to feel the
energy of the person I'm drawing for, and for another I feel that it's
walking art. I feel that it's livelier, which is not to say that a
normal painting is not lively but a painting would be in one place."
That being said, she explained that painting on clothes is just one
outlet of expression and she plans to move on to experiment with other
methods and painting on canvas was definitely going to be one of
them.Talking about how this process of painting t-shirts for people
works, Sunara explained that initially, she just did it for her friends
and later began getting more requests for her work on t-shirts. "Even
when I'm drawing on t-shirts to be sold I always feel that there's one
person that a specific piece of art is calling for and I don't know that
person but I understand that that person will understand my energy and
until that person finds it I don't think I'll sell that t-shirt".
When asked about what inspires her to draw, her answer was "Everyday
life and a lot of trips that I have gone through (internally and
externally), but right now in my life my work focuses on bringing
happiness and joy through whatever I'm drawing, basically generating
good energy."
She also said that she sometimes likes to listen to music while she
draws. "A lot of Floyd, Zepplin, Hendrix, Janis and anything else in my
ipod which keeps changing every so often."
 When asked about the art culture in Sri Lanka and what she thinks of
it and she said that she thinks there are a lot of amazing artists in
Sri Lanka and that there should be more of these artists coming together
and putting more of their work out there. "I don't know if it's just me,
but personally I think there's very little happening."
Talking about encouragement that young artists receive in Sri Lanka,
for example a kid who tells his or her parents that they want to be an
artist, Sunara explained that while a lot of parents would send their
children to art classes, that is not what they would expect their
children to do when they grow up.
"I don't think it's just drawing. Kids should be taught to sing and
dance and just set their souls free and that's restricted a lot in this
culture", she said. "When I initially told my parents I want to be an
artist, everyone just put me down by asking me how I'm going to make
money and things like that and I just gave up."
She went on to say that this is something that has been done
consistently in this culture and that it needs to stop, especially when
you consider the rich artistic history of the country.
When asked whether there is anyone she would like to thank she gave
the shortest answer I have ever received, for this particular question.
"I want to thank the universe for everything it has given me;" simple
and to the point. |
