• Internationally acclaimed artist Chandraguptha Thenuwara on the reasons he has had exhibitions each year in July for nearly 3 decades

Every year, internationally acclaimed artist Chandraguptha Thenuwara has a commemoration of an era that Sri Lankans prefer to forget, but, is an era that must be remembered in order to ensure that it is never repeated. The Tamil pogrom of 1983 and the fallout thereafter have seen wounds that have never healed. Forty years on, the ensuing sociopolitical climate, Sinhalese chauvinism, narrow minded nationalism, militarism, religious extremism, socialism, and anti-West sentiment embrace us, and that is what Thenuwara explores. 

Thenuwara has always stood out from the crowd, with his anti-war sentiment driving his art during an era when others were keen on taking up arms and attacking the enemy. After 2005, his exhibitions were constantly monitored by the authorities, but he boldly soldiered on. Thenuwara literally fought for his freedom with his creativity. 

Each year, he pulls the complex social turbulences surrounding his country into his works and each year, it becomes an eye opener. This year (2023), he showcases thought provoking new works in three simultaneous exhibitions: Covert, Delusion, and Fragile, at the Saskia Fernando Gallery, the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, and the J.D.A. Perera Gallery. Each of these exhibits are emotive. Thenuwara was on Kaleidoscope this week, speaking on the reasons for this continued commitment to highlighting issues that surround Sri Lankans, most of which remain deep rooted, like wounds that refuse to heal. 

You’ve been working on collections for 40 years to make us remember what we would rather forget. Have there been any revelations?

Politicians and people always make mistakes. They forget things and forge new paths of trouble. This is the material that I work with. For example, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a huge issue about how freedom is restricted. Most follow words but are never fortunate enough to comprehend the messages that we share using the medium of visual arts. They will blindly follow those words and that’s why one of the exhibitions this year is titled ‘Delusion’ because that’s what we are; living in delusional disorder. 

We constantly feel haunted and that ‘they’ are trying to destroy us. As a nation, we have become Islamophobic, believing that Buddhism needs to be protected. These issues surround us even though they were suppressed during the Aragalaya (the public movement to overthrow the previous Government led by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa) era. But, with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution being brought up by the President, the issues have come into focus again. 

Has anything changed from your perception of last year (2022) to this year?

Some things have changed, but, change overall is not happening. This is because even though we ask for a system change, we live in a place where there is no system to change. First, we have to formulate the system. Right now, people are travelling their own path and have forgotten everything that has happened in the past, and a past that was not too long ago. On the one hand, that’s a good thing because nothing is provoking them. For example, they’ve forgotten about elections. But, the moment that elections are mentioned, militarisation and nationalism become much discussed subjects nationally, and extreme religious concepts pop up. That’s the most dangerous phenomenon in Sri Lanka which could trigger negative situations anytime. 

The economic situation has kept most issues under the radar because people are trying to get by. This is why, right now, there are less political issues running through the society. The violence however, is very evident. That is the change that we are seeing. The military has new gear to play with. Even a silent protest becomes unacceptable. They don’t protect silent protestors but rather protect the hooligans. These are bad situations which take me back to the earlier regime. We did have a democratic space, but, it was a hypocritical democracy with camouflaged militarisation. We should be a polite society but we have become a policed society. Some get angry at my work, saying it’s not art but rather, it’s just politics. But to me, that’s what art is – it’s political. 

The large installation which is the centrepiece at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery took you two-and-a-half years to complete. What does it represent?

It represents the situation of Sri Lankans’ in the last two years: the violence, the extremism, the rape, the abductions, the killings, the abuse of power, and the misuse of religious concepts for politicisation. These are all the mishaps that we are living with, in absolute harmony and beautifully. We don’t see them or choose not to see them, but they all exist. When you enter the piece, you can’t immediately notice the poisonous parts, but upon closer observation, you can see them. This is what I want to provoke in the people’s minds – how so-called religious institutions have become more controlling than the military and how these institutions manipulate the people’s minds. That is what we have to overcome. 

In my work, I try to create beautiful things and within the beautiful things, I camouflage the less beautiful elements that the viewer needs to find. After going through this aesthetic experience, the viewer understands the lessons they’re meant to learn. 

The new word I have added to my vocabulary is ‘stupamania’. We make these stupas and they are everywhere. It’s a manifestation of the insecurity of the Sinhala Buddhists. Buddhism isn’t something that has to be protected. It should be a way of life, it’s a philosophy, a dharma. You don’t need an organisation for it. If there are people with good hearts following the religion, then, it will survive. An organised protection is mob-like and is very dangerous. 

Right now, we are in two states, both of which are reflected through my exhibitions. We are ‘covert’, hidden and camouflaged, and the other is ‘delusion’, to reflect the delusional disorder prevalent in society. My art has no words, it’s paintings, sculptures, drawings, and installations. The lack of words means that my work cannot be formulated into words. If anyone was to do that, the words would become their words and not mine. So, working with art is my only chance to give my message out. 

For 26 years, you’ve continued to have exhibitions in commemoration. What have you hoped to achieve?

I want people to always think and remind themselves to not repeat the past. I want them to stop ‘the ugly’. Killing is ugly. People are not born to be killed, they are born to live. They aren’t born to be killed by political force, gangsters, or other unnatural means. We have to create a society that empowers the people, not its Government. The people have to be independent of the State, because then, we don’t need to venerate the politicians and be their servants. It should be the other way around, politicians have to be the servants of the people. That’s the point that we have to make. 

When we are independent, we are free and then we can watch the politicians venerate us, to get their power. That’s the society that we need to have, that’s the change that we need to bring. Until then, I have to create my art to provoke the minds of the people. People can disagree with me, which is important as this promotes critical thinking, a skill necessary for the changes that we want to bring to this country. My exhibitions are about remembering the un-commemorated. It’s about commemorating what isn’t commemorated in our society. People have to live with these realities and learn from them. 

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media)