GAMAN MĀLIGĀ : AJANTHA RANAWEERA

Power endures through the splendor of edifices erected centuries ago. It is carried forward through legends that become history. It continues as rituals of repetition, as rhythmic movements of a performance, and motifs integral to adornments. Ajantha Ranaweera visualises authority as an entity that weaves in and out through space and time, permeating our imagination. It exerts its influence through myths, and visual culture.

The exhibition is informed by the Gaman Māligāva, temporary residences which were constructed during royal journeys, as a king traveled from one province to another, which became markers of the King’s presence and authority. Translated into Palace for Journeying, ‘Gaman Māligā ’ expands on the historical concept of the ruler as a divinely ordained guardian who connects the social and the celestial worlds, becoming a conduit that bestows cosmic order. 

The artist’s research-led practice engages deeply with Sri Lankan visual culture, and architecture. Conjuring an interstitial space where a garden is animated by flowing lianas, and flowering structures embody the idea of power, the artist reimagines the palace as a shifting organic architecture that moves through realms, both earthly and celestial. The celestial garden interchangeably appears as a space of seamless potential and disenchantment. 

In Ajantha Ranaweera’s work, communities redefine their position within sociopolitical systems, as their identities constantly shift in relationship to different wielders of destiny. Figures, both human and avian, imagined and real, move through spaces in response to the unpredictable, invisible flow of control. Movement itself becomes a formal device through which the circulation of power, and its influence on different demographies of individuals are visualised.

Informed by traditional temple murals, regional textile traditions, and the chromatic logic of ceremonial fabrics and decorative arts across the island, particularly the Thelme and Telkacchi healing rituals, Ranaweera’s intervention anticipates alternate histories of the present. Figures in spacesuits adorned with motifs inspired by ritual garments rewrites contemporary visual culture, subverting colonial histories and its authority.

Ajantha Ranaweera’s ‘Gaman Māligā’  invites a closer examination of the social and psychological dimension that guarantee access into echelons of power. Rendering these abstract ideas into a palpable, visual form, Ranaweera’s engagement prompts a reassessment of histories of imagination, with the intent of revealing the structures that ascertain their continuity.