• M+ Museum Director Suhanya Raffel on the work of the Geoffrey Bawa Trust

The Geoffrey Bawa Trust recently hosted ‘An Evening with Suhanya Raffel’, prior to which The Daily Morning Brunch had the opportunity to engage in conversation with the M+ Museum Director and International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art President.

M+ is a museum located in Hong Kong and Raffel has held the position since 2016, overseeing museum activities and broadening the museum’s international reach and championing deep connections with the local community. Raffel is also a Geoffrey Bawa Trust and Lunuganga Trust trustee, and spoke about the work done by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust not only in preserving Bawa’s work but also the work of other artists.

The Geoffrey Bawa Trust

The Geoffrey Bawa Trust was established in 1982 and Raffel has been involved in it for 30 years, working towards bringing Sri Lanka and the world a very significant design and architecture legacy, expanding the thinking of what modern and contemporary culture means, and maintaining a cultural space that is meaningful to people.

The work of the trusts, both formed by Bawa, is carried out through projects, programmes, conservation, and similar initiatives. “He was very clear that the trust was not just about his work, but about the collections that he had, the artists that he commissioned, and the collaborations that were made as part of his work. Very intrinsic to that are the other collaborations with Ena de Silva, Barbara Sansoni, Laki Senanayake, and Kingsley Gunatillake – all of these people worked very closely with Bawa in realising his various projects – and this is such an important statement about what creativity could look like.”

The work of the trust includes advising the renovation of the Bentota Beach Hotel, which Raffel said was a “critical example of that important work being made, but coming out of a commercial sector”, and overseeing the renovation of the Druvi de Saram House and undertaking its management and public programmes.

“Another very important part of what we have done at Lunuganga is to keep Lunuganga intact and in place for people to enjoy, whether it’s through tours or working with schools and local communities. It had a wonderful open house for the local area so that the people in the immediate region could see it in one day as part of the celebration of the garden’s 75th anniversary,” Raffel said.

She also spoke about Number 5, the house designed by Bawa for Ena de Silva, which was restored and reconstructed in Lunuganga. According to Raffel, this work reflected the trust’s belief that the design, architecture, art, ecology, and environment that were intrinsic to all his work are evident in Lunuganga as well as every place he has touched, which is why the trust was on a journey to continue to build on that.

Beyond Bawa

As Raffel pointed out, the trust’s work does not only focus on Bawa’s legacy. Instead, it is a cultural space that gives artists in the country vital recognition and opportunities. The selection of artists, Raffel explained, is based on the arguments made by the curatorial team, which is required to do a lot of research into the artist and their work. However, the trust’s work remains broad, covering art, architecture, ecology, and the environment. This is what Bawa himself set out to build. “It’s a broad cross-disciplinary interest that he wanted to build for his legacy as the Geoffrey Bawa Trust,” she said.

When preserving the work of artists and taking this work to wider audiences, language can be a barrier, in how information is shared and communicated and in how easily artists can access opportunities or platforms. Raffel acknowledged that language was a barrier to accessibility, but pointed out that the trust works in different languages given the capacity of what they can deliver.

The trust’s communications and programmes are made accessible to those who speak different local languages, ensuring the sharing of Bawa’s legacy isn’t limited or curtailed.

When asked what role language plays in local artists achieving global recognition, Raffel said language can be a barrier but that it wasn’t unique to Sri Lankan artists, as English language proficiency is a barrier to many communities.

“English is one of those world languages, but so is Spanish,” she said, adding: “Language is very important to build as much as possible, especially if that is an aspiration of an artist.” Raffel went on to say that it may also not be an aspiration of an artist, and that it boils down to how the artist wants to communicate.

However, the work of Sri Lankan artists is recognised globally, she said. “When I was in Australia working in Brisbane, there were always artists that were included. Filmmakers, also, because the Queensland art world was also very interested in cinema. The creative space included many kinds of people,” she said.

Speaking about her work at M+ in Hong Kong, Raffel said Sri Lankan work is included in the collection of designers and architects. “This is a very strong beginning,” she said, pointing out that other institutions have recognised the work of Sri Lankan photographers, for instance.

“So, it’s nascent but growing. It’s certainly not absent,” she said.