Art South Asia Project x #SupportLocalArt Talk: Shifting Focus — Art Education and Practice in the North and East of Sri Lanka
Thursday 29 June, 7.30pm
In this second talk of #SLA: The Talk Series Edition Four Mala Yamey, Program Manager at ASAP speaks with artists and art educators Mariah Lookman and SP Pushpakanthan. Edition Four of the Talk Series is organised by Art South Asia Platform in association with Saskia Fernando Gallery, and is supported by Faizal & Shabana Foundation.
Focusing on the Northern and Eastern regions of Sri Lanka, this talk will examine the impact and contributions of threeartists and art educators, Mariah Lookman and SP Pushpakanthan, on the next generation of artists working in the regions of Jaffna and Batticaloa. Mariah Lookman was an Academic Consultant and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Visual and Technological Arts at Swami Vipulanantha Institute of Aesthetic Studies (SVIAS), Eastern University in Batticaloa from 2017-19, and divides her time between Galle and Karachi, Pakistan. SP Pushpakanthan studied under Shanaathanan in Jaffna before returning to Batticaloa to join SVIAS, he then pursued an MFA on a Fullbright Scholarship at Cornell University, before returning to teach again at SVIAS.
When reflecting on Sri Lanka’s art ecosystem, the centre of activity for commercial spaces and more recognised art institutions tends to be thought of as residing in Colombo in the South West. The approach in the North and East of Sri Lanka towards art education and artistic practice deserves a closer look.
ASAP have partnered with #SupportLocalArt to host a summer series of Art Murmur’s dedicated to the field of modern and contemporary Sri Lankan art. For the second of the series, ASAP has devised a conversation between SP Pushpakanthan and Mariah Lookman, where they will discuss the key developments in art education in both Jaffna, Batticaloa and Galle. Through the teachings and support of both art educators, younger artists entered their professional practice with innovative thinking and criticality allowing them to flourish with whatever means possible. In Batticaloa, Lookman concentrated on re-establishing the art syllabi from its archaic form through working with younger teachers and artists from the region itself. These younger artists started to think differently about what it meant to be an artist and their function in the wider ecosystem.
Looking towards the next generation of artists in the North and East and the crucial role of art educators to nurture and expand artistic practice, Shifting Focus: Art Education and Practice in the North and East of Sri Lanka will open up understandings about art education to a less travelled path in the Northern and Eastern regions of the Sri Lanka.
#SupportLocalArt: The Talk Series is an initiative organised by Saskia Fernando Gallery to
create a much needed platform for conversation on the developments of the Sri Lankan art industry.
ASAP "Art Murmur" hosts artists, academics and art professionals from all around the world to discuss topics and issues faced in the field of modern and contemporary South Asian art.