White is pure, and black is corrupt - has been a discursive thought that Malki Jayakody has grown up with. Born in Gampaha in 1995, Malki earned her BA in Visual Arts and Design with honours in 2020 and is currently in the midst of completing her Masters in Fine Arts at the The University of Kelaniya.

Integrated under the ARTRA Collection, Malki has been identified as Emerging Artist | Best of 2023. She has a continuing thought which she explores in her collection called ‘Colourism’. This artist has discovered an original technique to find beauty through the negative occurrences she has either experienced or observed about life. Through her studies, Malki has discerned that societies around the world constantly find ugliness in differences that exist among us. Malki decided that she will present an exploration of beauty rather than ugliness through her art. Every line painted comes with the constant thought of beauty. Every texture is shown in contrast, and yet in a harmonious uniformity.

Showcasing at the Art Trail, Galle Literary Festival 2024, Malki’s ‘Colourism’ explores how beauty can be found in anything and coexist with anything; that is, how various objects such as a dried leaf or a burned piece of cloth, along with the painting of a magnified epidermis of a human being can coexist beautifully on one piece of paper. The artist usually works with mixed media in her work for these reasons, to show that variety can live and be pleasantly subsequent to each other. 

There are many ‘isms’ in our lives that are problematic for the world we live in; for example, racism, sexism, and classism. This is why Malki calls the continuing theme in her work ‘Colourism’.  As mentioned before, Malki has experienced the prejudice of being of a darker shade of brown in her own life, in multiple situations. The artist finds that colourism is a negative form of thinking which, like a veil over our eyes, can prevent us from seeing the true beauty of a thing or a being, to lead us to judgement rather than a clear view of what is right in front of us.

According to Malki, women are the principal victims of colourism. In her life, whether it be through TV, social media, movies, advertising or even subliminal declarations within society, women of darker color are treated with animosity and those with a lighter complexion are not. Judgmental and critical sentiments are much more prominent in the life of a darker skinned woman than one with lighter skin. Our mental landscape has been hypnotized into thinking this way and in turn, this affects a woman’s life the most. Through colourism, Malki hopes to show, by using various textures, colours and abstract forms that we can think unconditionally and realize a greater truth, put our vanity into perspective and get over our own complexes about such insignificant things as how dark or light our skin is.

Another unique aspect of Malki’s artwork is the forms which her paintings depict. The artist feels that there is no need to cover the entire canvas or paper or whatever one paints on. She uses negative space as the background of the art shown. This creates a more vivid, complex, and definite form for each of her pieces of art. Her paintings seem to be floating in the air, have movement and layers of paint and several materials. All of this is put together in such a way as to give the impression of a floating and disappearing vision. To view her catalog of works, as well as those of our Emerging Artist under ARTRA Collection click here. 

The artist is multi-disciplinary who uses diverse types of material such as water colour, inks, oil paints, pencils, and pens. She also finds interest in using unusual materials she may just find in her everyday life. Malki prefers the slow drying, bright colors of oil paints rather than the quick drying acrylic paints. Acrylic seems to be the only material she does not work with. She feels it dries too soon and does not give her the varying shades that gives her art depth.

Malki Jayakody is a young, dedicated and unique artist. She looks beyond the obvious, finding truth in natural beauty. Even though she graduated with her BA right in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic, she found a way to exhibit her works locally and internationally via the internet. The artist has determination and has not allowed anything to prevent her from exploring and experiencing the wonder of being an artist. She is without a doubt someone to keep in mind when thinking of the future of art.

ARTRA Collection was formulated to showcase Sri Lankan contemporary art in a curated format across public spaces. It showcases Emerging Artists from regions outside of the focal artistic hemisphere of Colombo, to cultivate regional epicentres of art across the country, where a diverse range of artists can voice their alternate narratives of the story of Sri Lanka. Each artist under the ARTRA Collection was selected under rigorous criteria including strength of concept, articulation and execution, professionalism and unique identity. To read more about the vision behind the ARTRA Collection and the rest of our roster of Emerging Artists, click here. 

The artist, Malki Kaushalee Jayakody has been a part of ‘The Secretary’ exhibition, 2018-2019, organized by The Vista Exhibition, Department of Visual Arts & Design, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She was a participant in a group exhibition/special project, 2022, ‘The Black History’, which is an International, online, print exhibition, Sri Lanka. Also, in 2022, Malki was involved in ‘Blooming Femina’ at Gallery Fourlife, Colombo, Sri Lanka. This was a dual exhibition Malki had with the artist Peshala Premathilaka. In 2021, Malki participated in ‘The 2021 International Online Women Art Fair’, (Art Family) Exhibition, India. Another exhibition Malki joined in 2021 was ‘An International Online X Art PlatformExhibition’, Turkey. Again, online, in 2021, Malki partook in ‘Color–D’ an online Contemporary Art Exhibition. In 2024, Malki Jayakody had her art collection ‘Colourism’ exhibited as part of the Art Trail, Galle Literary Festival 2024 on a national scale alongside ARTRA’s Emerging Artists | Best of 2020, 2022 & 2023. Her works also featured in ARTRA Magazine’s latest edition ‘Galle Fort in the Contemporary’ E66. Her works are currently exhibited in the Galle Fort Hotel, No. 28, Church Street, Galle Fort. 

Written by Namalee Siriwardhane