A Sujeewa Kumari painting trapezes tactfully between the real and the imagined. In her latest exhibition titled Full Bloom opening at Paradise Road Galleries opening on 24th February, the artist seems to resolve two states that are easily dichotomized: the dream state and 'reality'.
Set against an inky void that reminds one of a de Chirico dream work, Sujeewa Kumari seems to give form to the latent content of half forgotten dreams. Striking hybrid creations that slip between states of tropical flora and the female silhouette are made to float amidst vaguely recognizable spaces.
We are made to feel we have inhabited these spaces before, but just as we feel we can put our fingers on them, they disintegrate and evade identification. These spaces are populated with everyday objects that connote a sense of familiarity but also, in their stereotypical association with the realm of the female, Sujeewa Kumari questions the representation of the feminine.
In her previous exhibitions, Sujeewa Kumari melded boundaries between mediums; adopting a mixed-media approach to her works that included video installations, digital photo collages, embroidery, and drawing. Sujeewa Kumari constantly questions the idea of ‘the image.’ In ‘Full Bloom,’ Sujeewa Kumari dissolves the boundaries between the figures she depicts without the need for different tools. Instead, she creates constantly metamorphosing figures that slink between their varied existences with ease. In one work in the series, the artist nods at her mixed-media work.
The bust of a woman occupies a cropped off beige space that is clearly delineated from the rest of the canvas. The remaining space adopts a gradient background that melts slowly from a deep black to a concrete grey. The delicate folds of a woman’s dress catch our eye as viewers, and slip between the otherwise differentiated spaces.
The artist’s conceptual research on the discourse of the ripped apart post-colonial identity lends itself to this fragmented look that conveys the feeling of a mixed-media work.
The artist continues stories begun in previous works by taking portraits of South Asian women as depicted in antique colonial photographs; themselves monochrome, now set against kaleidoscopes of colour that borrow from the surrealist tradition, even extending it to touch on contexts previously excluded from the canon.
Born in 1971, Sujeewa Kumari holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Research, Visual Arts and Media from the Dutch Art Institute and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya. Kumari was selected as one of the 30 finalists in the Sovereign Asian Art Prize Hong Kong in 2019. Her work has been exhibited at the Dhaka Art Summit (2018), the Colombo Art Biennale (2016), Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo (2017 and 2014), Leeds Art Gallery (2010), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh (2017) and Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna (2008).
Full Bloom an art exhibition By Sujeewa Kumari will be held at The Paradise Road Gallery Cafe from 24 February – 24 March 2022.