The Wall of Death and other works

by Indeewara Thilakarathne.

The camouflaged barrels, sculptures of armed soldiers and camouflaged sheet of canvas, barrelscape which are recurrent images of war, dominates the recent exhibition of paintings, sculptures and installation by Chandraguptha Thenuwara which was held at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery.

Aptly titled "The Wall of Death", a wall made up of wooden bricks representing thousands of men and women killed in the conflict, was the centre piece of the exhibition. In the catalogue, Chandraguptha has mentioned a long list of persons killed in the protracted conflict from Alfred Duraiyappa to Joseph Pararajasingham. Each brick represents-innocent civilians, children, monks, soldiers and tigers who were killed in the conflict.

"The Wall of Death" commemorates, the many killings of Sri Lankans since 1983. The other works such as "barrelscape," "War" (stoneware) and "Peace" (stoneware) where the barrels are depicted without camouflage, represent powerful images associated with the thirty year- long conflict.

In a conflict situation, checkpoints and road blocks become part and parcel of daily life and checkpoints manned by armed soldiers are marked with camouflaged barrels forming a "Barrelscape" in the city.