Chandraguptha Thenuawara, represented by Saskia Fernando Gallery   

Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s three-part memorial exhibition in July, marking 40 years of the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom, which is understood to be the catalyst for the thirty-year-long civil war in Sri Lanka is opening simultaneously at Saskia Fernando Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Gallery and JDA Perera Gallery on Sunday, 23/07/2023.

Every year, Thenuwara presents an exhibition of new works in response to the sociopolitical climate in Sri Lanka, continuing his inquiry into issues of militarism, religious extremism, conspiracy theories, Sinhala chauvinism, narrow-minded nationalism, anti-western agitation, socialism etc. The annual exhibition, Delusion, which opens at Saskia Fernando Gallery, inquires into the atmosphere of complacency and inaction amongst the citizenry post-Aragalaya, as they retreat into a comfortable order of affairs amidst economic instability and the yet unrealised promise to decentralise power.  

Chandraguptha Thenuawara, represented by Saskia Fernando Gallery   

As an extension of this exhibition, the completed sculptural installation Covert will be presented to the public, at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. Through an infinite vortex of interlocking motifs - lotuses, soldiers, stupas and barrels - constructed out of wire which link and fuse, layer upon layer, like the meanings of the motifs themselves - the artist invites the viewer to reflect on the social and political history of the island. Covert stands as a monument to the dire state of Sri Lanka’s political crisis- a never-ending vortex of the stories and failures that have pushed the country further into precarity, leaving it in the state it is today. The sculptural installation completed after two and a half years, was partially exhibited at the 59th Venice Biennale and Frieze London 2022 in 'Indra's Net' curated by Sandhini Poddar.

Parallel to these, Chandraguptha Thenuwara will present Fragile: to commemorate the un-commemorated things, an exhibition of artworks by six young artists at the JDA Perera Gallery. The exhibition curated by Thenuwara with assistant curators Asanka Jayasinghe and S. P. Pushpakanthan, will feature works by artists Devinda Gamage, M.T. Rukshana Fathima, T.Vinoja, Sabrina Fathim Zarook, Shanika Wijesinghe, and U. Arulraj. Fragile is an attempt to understand the impact of Sri Lanka’s tumultuous history of violence and injustice and the issues that persist in various parts of the island through the lens of the artists presenting at the exhibition. 

Chandraguptha Thenuawara, 2021, represented by Saskia Fernando Gallery   

Exhibition dates: 
Saskia Fernando Gallery: 23.07.2023 - 23.08.2023 | 10:00 – 18:00 | Artist Walkthrough 15:00
Lionel Wendt Art Gallery: 23.07. 2023 - 31.07.2023 | 10:00 – 18:00 | Artist Walkthrough 12:00
JDA Perera Gallery:  23.07. 2023 - 31.07.2023 | 17:00 – 20:00 | Artist Walkthrough 18:00