Saskia Fernando Gallery will be showcasing the works of leading contemporary Sri Lankan artists at the upcoming India Art Fair (IAF), which will be held from 9 – 12 February 2023 in the NSIC grounds, Okhla Industrial Area in New Delhi, India. IAF is India’s flagship art event which brings together galleries and institutions, private foundations, arts charities, artist collectives, national museums, cultural events, and festivals. The art fair enables local and international audiences to engage in innovative ways with both cultural history and development within the South Asian region.
Over the last two decades, Saskia Fernando Gallery has furthered the conversation on Sri Lankan contemporary art in the region as well as globally, through continued support to local art and representation at international art events. As the only Sri Lankan gallery attending IAF 2023, Saskia Fernando Gallery will bring together works ranging from textile, embroidery, digital collages, drawings, paintings and book art reflecting the dialogues and developments in visual language in the island, both past and ongoing.
The gallery will present works by five artists currently at the forefront of Sri Lankan contemporary art. Hema Shironi’s work is driven by the nostalgia of the numerous places she has called home. Through the intricate use of textile and embroidery, her work inquires how each community belonging to those places grapples with concerns of language, culture, and memory. Firi Rahman’s drawings possess a sombre and monochromatic style that are both intimate and sensitive as he engages with issues concerning the endangerment of the island’s wildlife. Muvindu Binoy’s digital collages explore the juxtaposition of traditional values contradicted by modern-emancipated standards of the digital age. Artist and Activist, Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s interdisciplinary practice is drawn from a repository of leitmotifs he has used for over four decades, presenting works that are intertwined with the sociopolitical developments in Sri Lanka. While the hand-painted books of his contemporary, Jagath Weerasinghe confronts ideas of nationhood and identity.
