ARTRA Magazine

In his review of Junctures, Sanjana Hattotuwa Hattotuwa reflects on the exhibition’s engagement with generations, inherited histories and the possibilities of representation.

“Rebellious documentation” is Azara Jaleel phrase, and it is a good one, because it refuses the implication that documenting was ever the aesthetically simple option.

From artists who confronted and documented violence during the war, to a younger generation transforming inherited documentary material and testing other registers of representation, the review considers what shifts, and what remains — across generations.

Read “Bearing Witness, Generation After Generation” in full on ARTRA. Link in bio.

When art becomes a space for dialogue, looking becomes a form of listening. At Junctures, Nilani Joseph, T. Krishnapriya, Kanesh Thabendran, Tharmapalan Tilaxan and Thavarasa Thajendran, alongside curator Azara Jaleel, came together for an evening of questions, reflection and exchange around the works and the experiences that inform them. The gallery became a space where different perspectives could meet, not to arrive at a single reading, but to complicate, question and deepen how we understand what is before us.

Come experience Junctures at the Harold Peiris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Centre, open to the public until 12 August 2026, as part of ARTRA Trail Edition 2.

The panel discussion The Second Generation on Rebuilding, Rebellion, and the Fractured Body brings together four contemporary artists from Jaffna in a conversation examining inherited memory, identity and the afterlives of conflict through contemporary artistic practice.

Join us for an afternoon of critical dialogue with the exhibiting artists.

📍 Harold Peiris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Centre
🗓 Saturday, 8 August | 4.00 PM
Free Entry

Anoli Perera’s works are featured as part The Meeting Ground, Scenes from the KNMA Collection, bringing together modern, contemporary, folk and indigenous practices from across South Asia at Christies King Street galleries in London.

“As an artist, revisiting the moments from my childhood experience within the world of needlepoint that my aunts had created back then, gave me the energy and enthusiasm to draw from their disciplined artmaking in textile. I felt liberated because of the depth and breadth it provided me in terms of cultural memory, meaning and metaphor, and because it connected me to a historical lineage which I could easily find affinity with.”

Read the essay ‘Influences of a Colonized Past’ on ARTRA Magazine’s South Asian Art Edition e68 on www.artra.lk/south-asian-contemporary-art-edition-influences-of-a-colonized-past/

See you at the art exhibitions from Saturday onwardsThabi RoshanlThava YohieKrish Pri Thabi Roshan Thava Yohie Tharmapalan Tilaxan Lionel WMuvais Ansaritre Stephen Champion Muvais Ansari Fathima Fiyaza Marco Manamperi Venura MadurapMohamed Hathi Serasinghe | Artist Mohamed Hathi The Charleston, Galle Fort THE MER.CHANT

What happens when artists, collectors, and curious minds come together?

A day filled with stories, perspectives, and experiences that celebrate the power of art.

Join us at The Charleston, Galle on 15th August.

The latest Shades of India collection at Rithihi honors the timeless Panna Hajar motif. From the vibrant warmth of the red mirrorwork kurta to the quiet charm of the ivory booti kurta, these pieces bring effortless elegance and heritage to your wardrobe.

You may also purchase ARTRA Magazine’s Silenced Edition e70 from Rithihi Pvt Ltd, Colombo 03.

REVEALED; The Artists Shaping ARTRA Trail Edition Two Aug 7-16

Tilaxan’s work delves into the corporeal cartography of survival, positioning the physical form as an archive where the wounds of history refuse to settle. On the scarred surfaces of the land, he captures the physical remnants of broken walls, empty homes, and villages left behind.

Tharmapalan Tilaxan is an independent documentary photographer based in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, with over 14 years of experience focusing on social and environmental subjects. His work examines the changing relationships between people, landscapes, and systems; often highlighting issues such as human-wildlife conflict, displacement, and environmental degradation. He is widely recognized for his Garbage-Eating Elephants series, which brought international attention to ecological challenges in Sri Lanka and was featured in The Guardian, BBC, and other major platforms. His approach combines documentary precision with a strong visual narrative, offering a grounded and research-driven perspective on local and regional issues. Through exhibitions, publications, and collaborations, he continues to contribute to global conversations on environment, community, and change, using photography as a clear and purposeful medium for documentation and reflection.

The group exhibition Junctures engages with the physical and spiritual body navigating wounded environments and fractured communities through rebellion and resistance within the post-war landscape of Jaffna. As contemporary artists who were born and brought up in Jaffna belonging to the ‘second generation,’ featured artists Nilani Joseph (Jasmine Nilani Joseph ) , Tharmapalan Tilaxan (Tharmapalan Tilaxan ) , T. Krishnapriya (Krish Pri ), Thavarasa Thajendran (Thava Yohie ) and Kanesh Thabendran (Thabi Roshan )unite in their shared history, upbringing and perspectives distinct from their predecessors, offering an introspective lens on a landscape in transition.

Curated by Azara Jaleel, Junctures fosters a critical dialogue, exploring the crossroads at which Jaffna currently stands. Through a focus on memory, materiality and sites of resistance, the featured works shed light on the complexities of reconciling its historical past & pain with its evolving present.

Junctures will be showcased as part of ARTRA Trail Edition Two | Aug 7-13 | Colombo