Marco Manamperi | ARTRA’s Emerging Artist Best of 2023 Mahela ‘Marco’ Manamperi is a rising emerging artist in the Sri Lankan contemporary art scene today. Born in Balangoda, a large town in the Ratnapura District, Marco wields a distinguished style in his digital medium. With a scalpel’s proficiency, he utilizes stunning visual symbols to cut…
In Conversation with Rohan de Soysa Await full article. 1st December, 2021 Visual Art | Paintings
Pakkiyarajah Pushpakanthan The idea of art as a therapeutic medium is recorded to have emerged in 1942 when British soldier Adrian Hill was recovering from his service in World War I. Adrian Hill was an author and artist whose process of recovery led him to discover the nuanced healing and cathartic experiences or art’s preoccupation…
Mariah Lookman In a 1946 preface by the World Health Organization, the organization defined holistic health as the state of complete mental, physical and social well-being than the absence of an illness in the physical vessel of an individual. The implementation of this preamble then identifies with the idea of the consequence or an action…
By Azara Jaleel This edition of ARTRA Magazine presents a mesmeric introspection to the profound perspectives permeated in beauty and esoteric. Every featured work of art has been prudently chosen amidst a plethora of paintings, film stills, photographs and poetic installations to capture the most prolific exquisiteness of the artist’s mind to present to you…
In conversation with Sanjeewa Kumara Await full interview 7th April, 2021 Visual Art | Paintings
By Azara Jaleel Ismeth Raheem, 1990, Painting on Door Panel, Raheem Collection, Colombo Ismeth Raheem’s portfolio of drawings, paintings and etchings is emblematic of a symbiosis, intersecting art and design. When approaching the works of the artist, architect and art historian, it is notable that its nucleus stems from his practice at Edwards, Reid and…
Written by Kavinu Cooray & Edited by Azara Jaleel Ismeth Raheem, 1980, Negombo Fishermen, Raheem Collection, Colombo Born on 18 October 1941 to M.M.A. Raheem and Ayesha Raheem from the Jaffna Peninsula, Ismeth Raheem was raised with his eight siblings in Hulftsdorp, amidst the rambunctious bustle of Colombo, and later in their family home in…
By Prof. David Robson Ismeth Raheem, 2023, Central Courtyard of Cinnamon Lodge, Raheem Collection, Colombo One evening, early in 1971, my wife and I returned home to our bungalow in Colombo’s Charles Place to find a sheet of paper pinned to the front door. It was a wood-block print of a highly stylised owl measuring…
In conversation with Dinarzarde Raheem Much of Ismeth Raheem’s work is coloured by his enduring fascination with the natural world. From indigenous Sri Lankan plant life rendered in ink to the feathered plumage of birds painted with ornithological precision, his creative exploration of the wild has over the years encompassed a profound appreciation for Sri…
In Conversation with Michael Anthonisz Await full article. 1st February, 2022 Visual Art | Paintings
In conversation with Mirak Raheem Ismeth Raheem in addition to being an accomplished Architect, Artist and Art Historian, has written a canon of essays and critiques published across newspapers, catalogues, journals and significant publications within a wide range of disciplines from the history of Sri Lanka through art, architecture, archaeology and photography to research publications…
In conversation with Anura Ratnavibhushana Intersecting art and architecture is a seminal characteristic of Ismeth Raheem’s multidisciplinary work as an Architect, Art Historian and Artist. When approaching his portfolio of works, it became clear that his practice at Edwards, Reid and Begg as a draughtsman and architectural assistant under Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner in…
By Azara Jaleel “Call me an hour before you come my dear, you never know if l’d be standing here alive” Laki would say, every time he invited me over to Diyabubula; his abode amidst the forest, atleast eight years before his passing in 2021. That was Laki, wickedly humorous, and generous to a fault…
By David Robson together with C. Anjalendran Beginnings Laki Senanayake was born in 1937, the seventh of the eight children of Reginald and Florence Senanayake. Both his parents were active in left-wing politics and campaigned for workers’ rights. Reginald was a planter and a founder member of the Marxist Lanka Sama Samajist Party (LSSP). In…
In Conversation with Michael Meyler Michael Meyler at ARTRA Magazine’s Launch of the Laki Senanayake Edition & Art Experiential Festival ‘Laki’s Currency Notes of the Late 1970’s’ in conversation with Azara Jaleel at Jetwing Lighthouse on the morning of the 5th of March, 2023 In 1976, Laki Senanayake was approached by the Governor of the…
Peshala Premathilaka Born in 1994, Peshala Premathilaka, at age 29, has accomplished impressive heights in her artwork. Even before graduating from the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo, in 2019, Peshala had already earned international recognition. In 2015 she was a part of the ‘Imongo Mumbai International Art Exhibition’ in San Giorgio, Venice,…
A thought piece by Ismeth Raheem Ismeth Raheem at ARTRA Magazine’s Launch of the Laki Senanayake Edition & Art Experiential Festival ‘Laki’s Artistic Expressions & Influences’; An intimate tour of the iconic handrail of Jetwing Lighthouse by Laki Senanayake on the afternoon of the 5th of March, 2023 Laki was among the most intelligent of…
By Azara Jaleel In a Shakespearean play the court’s clown or the jester is given the license to speak the truth in a context where no one else dares not, critiquing the characters and their actions for the benefit of the audience. Humour has been a potent tool to reveal truths unabashedly by artists on…
By David Robson Photograph taken by Rohan de Soysa at Brief Garden. Delini Raheem tells of the time when she and her mother bumped into Bevis Bawa in the Samudra Restaurant on Galle Face and her mother introduced him as ‘Geoffrey’s brother’. Bevis towered over them and bowed with a sad smile: “Madam, in those…