ONCE UPON A TIME: Sandatharaka Abeysinghe

The exhibition unfurls as a celebration that is underway in this land that exists deep under the sea. As the water currents move, and the petals of giant hibiscus gently fold, it parts the way taking us deeper into the ocean. We encounter congregations of birds, and bees, costumed performers, who meander through the waters - led by waterlily touchstones, and paths among trees leading towards a hidden destination.

While rooted in a rich cultural history of the artist’s home country, with its traditions of ritual performers, and Kandyan dancers, they criss-cross paths with wayfarers from distant regions, both mythical and real. It imagines an existence human kind has imagined, but never cocreated in the world above ground.

The magic is intensified through the subtle bending of reality. Light illuminating the dark ocean. Mist. Flowers that seldom lose colour, despite the water currents constantly brushing against them. Creatures of flight soaring in the absence of air. Magic becomes the anchor that permits the braiding of different time zones, histories, cultures, life forms and memories - each flowing into each other with a fluidity that mirrors the ecosystem they are a part of. Sandatahraka’s underwater world is a haven for coexistence - the rigid categorisations of the modern world having sublimated.