In Between

From the ashes of a nation’s strife, Kingsley Gunatillake’s artistic imagery echoes the tale of struggle and protest, visualizing the story of people’s resilience and their desire. With the rustic, charred, and painstakingly carved pages of found books and the flatness of the canvas, Gunatillake renders a tale of pain and of hope. From the charred pages that bear poignant titles such as Till the End of Time, The Book of Summer, The Domain of The Mind, Good to Great, etc., emerge sculptural figures in brass of soldiers in combat, deities, and architectural motifs articulating a new narrative about the nation’s plight that weaves together history, heritage, literature, and visual culture. Placed together, the impressive installation speaks of Sri Lanka’s narratives of beauty and pain, the legacy of shared histories, people’s hope to claim that legacy of mutually respectful co-existence, their testimonies of resilience and strength, and warns us how freedom is enslaved. In a country where history bleeds, Gunatillake’s art is a call to action, a reminder of the past. That the struggle for freedom will forever endure and last. The exhibition also serves as a unique opportunity to examine artists’ precarious but essential position and artistic identity amidst social upheavals. Gunatillake also draws our attention towards the in-between situation of the preparation of artwork, the elusive phase of creative thinking, where emotions are raw, a world often neglected. In the space between, where lines of fact and fiction are blurred, Gunatillake paints an image of an absurd and rational world. Through each brush stroke of the abstract paintings, pulsating desire and sexuality flow like an untamed life force in the uncertainty of life. Where contradictions rule, Gunatillake’s works remind us, of the beauty of being human, amid the turmoil. Through the in-between stage of life and its twists and turns, the show’s results forcefully display the beauty in desire and hope.

Premjish Achari