Urban Fragments Out of Context

Photographs of different aspects of urban space like any conventional landscape painting can be structured in context; with a clear background, foreground, subjects of attention in their designated places, and therefore with no contradictions or confusions. What if elements in urban space are captured as fragments with no clear linkages to an overall structure that might give them conventional meaning? Would they be confusing or simply narrate a different kind of story, leaving room for interpretation?



සරසවිය

බුද්ධිය වී ඇත අදිසි යථාවක්,
මායාවක්,
මිරිගුවක්
සරසවියේ.
යෙදුනද සම්භාෂනයේ
ඇඳුරන් මහැඳුරන් නාමමාති‍්‍රක,
ඝෝෂාවක් මිස
නැත එහි ප‍්‍රඥාවක්.
ඇත්තේ නිසරු බිමකි
දැනුමට තෝතැන්නක්
විය යුතු තැන,
නොලැබෙන කිසිිදින
බුද්ධියේ ආලෝ්කය,
ප‍්‍රඥාවේ සිසිලස.

කොළඔ, 11 දෙසැම්බර් 2010

(ශ්‍රී) පතුල

පතුලකි ශ්‍රී;
ලැබිය යුතුද
බුහුමන්?

The Pillar

Contrext/Out of Context and Photography

The exhibition ‘Sensing Nature’, subtitled “rethinking the Japanese perception of nature” held at the Mori Art Museum (July 24-November 07, 2010) is a collection of installations and video works by three artists: Yoshioka Tokujin, Shinoda Taro and Kuribayashi Takashi. Though not a conceptually challenging or radical exhibition by any means, it does offer certain elements of the spectacle, particularly the larger installations as well as a glimpse of the work of technology and mechanization in the production of art. I wondered if the installations could be captured as images out of context, selected details of the larger work, and in the process whether they could ‘seem’ like artworks of a particular kind that used color, shadows and light.

Sky, Sea and Trees

A9 in the Rain

The main road the Jaffna, the A9 trunk road was seriously damaged in some sections due to heavy fighting which ended last year. What is left continues to be affected by heavy rain at the moment. Though the road is not suitable for travel in many areas, such as near Elephant Pass, Chavakachcheri etc. people use it under the worst possible climatic conditions simply because there is no other choice. But large billboards that sell everything from Dialog telephone services to wall paints are on either side of the road beckoning the people to have a taste of capitalism; other blank bill boards invite companies to use their surfaces. Irrespective of the condition of the road and the vagaries of the life of people, local and global capital seem to have made their presence felt all the way to Jaffna.