Dhobi Community, Slave Island

Displacement is a continuous process that has been going on in every part of the world. When it comes to Sri Lanka, displacement was effected due to civil war, natural disasters and increasing urbanisation.

My work, influenced by personal experiences, reflects and poses existential questions as the voice of a community of people who have been subjected to constant displacement and a Gipsy lifestyle for various social and political reasons.

Displacement questions the relationship one individual has with the environment. The residences of ordinary people who consider them as their ancestral homes are demolished in order to erect new high-rise buildings. Those who lost their ancestral homes and centuries-old historical buildings as part of their collective history are on the run, searching for new homes as individuals and families.

The Colombo city urbanisation programme is focused on Slave Island and its surroundings; the struggle for the right to life and the right to have a home by the people of Slave Island are portrayed in this work.

As an independent artist, reflecting on social issues and inequality would be my artistic contribution to society as a whole.