'Thousand Shivas' is a series of over hundred individually hand-painted books featuring the dancing Shiva, created by Jagath Weerasinghe for th 2006 Singapore Biennale.
Shiva is a compelling image of the activity, beautiful, elegant, and violent, which probes into the necessity of destruction to create an environment of peace and tranquillity. Shiva Nataraja dancing on Apasmara Purusha, the personification of illusion and ignorance), is symbolic of the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance. His recurrent engagement with the themes encapsulated in Shiva attempts to comprehend the cruelty that lurks within each human being - channelled as it is by an attachment to one’s personal beliefs and notions of culture. Through the repetition of the image, Weerasinghe inquiries into the manner in which the civil war in Sri Lanka was brought to an end & the necessity of violence to create an environment of peace. Is violence the only way to end evil?