Priyantha Udagedara’s exhibition “Orientalism” involves the viewer in a type of performative exchange “to unearth -and concurrently interpret- what is beneath the deception of the exoticism in brazen display.”(1) To fully realize the significance of this body of work however requires us to look back at Priyantha’s last two exhibitions: Paradise Lost (2012) and Herbal Gardens (2015). The former handled themes of the violence stemming from the civil conflict and the latter a somewhat investigative look into the underground sex trade in Sri Lanka. Both of these bodies of works used the same technology of playing with distance and close-ness in observation to expose something to the viewer. Both used floral veneers to entice, and both revealed an insidious underbelly lurking behind. This technology is repeated in Orientalism (2017), yet it would be remiss to suggest that the art and the artist have simply stuck to a formula that works and have seized to evolve. Rather, while stylistically the differences may seem miniscule, the conceptual leap made from the last two bodies of work is nothing short of tremendous.
Priyantha has managed to pivot conceptually while exercising restraint and respect to his personal commitment to the form. Before, the viewer was brought in only to be revealed a dark and painful realty, prompting either an instinctual avoidance or a type of political awareness. In the case of Orientalism however, the viewer, tempted by the promise of tropical exoticism is brought in only to be revealed a darker more attractive form barbaric exoticism. This fuels the cannon of stories about tropical danger, adventure and discovery in colonial empires.
Priyantha Udagedara, based a lot of his research for this body of work on Edward Said’s seminal book Orientalism. Coincidentally when seeing Priyantha’s work I was reminded of Stuart Hall’s book, The West and the Rest: Discourses on Power which used Edward Said’s book as a foundation. In his chapter titled Idealization Hall identifies 5 key themes for orientalism to take root and for fantasy to be constructed. The first; the unfortunate privilege of being seen as the “The Golden World; an Earthly Paradise.” Halls’ second point, suggests, that the land and its people are seen as “the simple” living an “innocent life.” Hall’s third and fourth point, suggest that the land is seen as having a “lack of developed social organization and civil society” and that “people live in a pure set of nature”. Finally the focus falls on sexuality, its loose reigns and nakedness.
The experience of viewing Priyantha’s paintings seems to mirror the progression of Stuart Hall’s analysis. The viewer is filled with Joy as they see the piece at a distance, much like the colonial projection of a tropical paradise in the distance. It could also serve as a measurement for the present where the colonized themselves evoke a type of reductive paradisiacal essentialism? (#serendipty/#islandlife /aerial drone video). A kind of cognitive imperialism.(3) A left-over habit of selective representation that simplifies and ignores the inconvenient side of Sri Lanka. And then as the viewer steps closer to the look at the works, the blue crawling blue figures, and the animal deviances offer an enticing mystical barbarism that begs to be ordered, civilized, sexualized, clothed and controlled.
Given the presence of unmistakably East Asian motifs and styles in the works however, is Priyantha possibly questioning the potential of a new double orientalism? One, unmistakably Sri Lankan and another growing much like the brick walls from the potential increase in East Asian immigration and trade deals to and with Sri Lanka.
We might not have the answers to these questions, but Priyantha has been successful in compelling us to ask them. While his previous works were held a more overtly political message, in this body of work Priyantha takes on the role of mediator connecting symbols, behaviors, and motifs to prophetically generate critical conversation. These works are political, but exist outside of the usual political discourse. By doubling down as the mediator of symbols that evoke colonial, post-colonial, and new-trade exchanges, Priyantha’s works invite political, cultural and humanitarian dialogue.
Sandev Handy