‘The Red Voice’ by Pavithra Perera will be held at Siddhartha Gallery, Babar Mahal in Kathmandu today and tomorrow. This is arguably the first time a Sri Lankan female activist and artist is exhibiting her work in Kathmandu through a solo exhibition.
Pavithra Perera is an artist, activist and writer from Sri Lanka, living and working in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She comes from a law educational background and found her creative process to battle the traumas of her life. Her art itself moved her further to share her findings, and healing process through a foundation, The Hope House of Ceylon.
Now, she has dedicated her life to develop the avocation of human rights and art, and to give voice and refuge to more like her. Her passion for art focuses on stories of human beings, social issues brushed under the rug in Asian society. She finds the human face to be the medium that appears on a canvas with a loud voice telling the stories. She arrived at Space A art residency in Kathmandu at the beginning of October with a mission in her heart to give a voice to faces in Nepal who were not being heard loud.
Hidden stories
“My artwork is primarily inspired by the human face, emotions and the stories they carry in the lines and shadows unique to each and every person. I keep portraying the hidden stories of emotions, untold stories to voice them and process the memories later in the beautiful opportunity that artwork creates. My main goal is to achieve many expressive portraits focused on emotions and feelings delivered through the eyes, the wrinkles and lines of the face that carries stories of our life.
“I use charcoal, acrylic and oil paint depending on the mood, the subject and the geographical scene of the artwork to tell the stories with much intensity. I was so excited to apply for the residency program in Space A Artist Initiative in Kathmandu, as this opportunity would give me the ability to focus on research and experimentation in an inimitable geographical setup with many social and Buddhist cultural similarities to my motherland yet unique in its own way to take my work in some very interesting new directions.
“Two weeks I took to visit many rural areas of Nepal before arriving at Space A filled with so many emotions, a fighting spirit and a responsibility to speak up about the social issues that touched me in the deepest part of my conscience. I visited ‘Tharu’ women and participated in the ‘Jitiya’ festival where I got an opportunity to dive into their lives and their challenges. At an age they must carry the books to school and get educated, they were married and were carrying the whole responsibility of a family on their shoulders.
Women as labourers
“My vision started turning black and white while the bloody red ‘Sindoor’ and the bead neckless representing their marriage started appearing very bright. I saw adult women taking heavy work as labourers carrying weight, looking after children and cattle while they had no basic rights including voicing their opinion in the family or making decisions in their life.
“Lack of education among women has robbed them of better opportunity as workers. When I heard about the harmful cultural practice of Chhaupadi the social tradition related to “menstrual taboo” in the Western part of Nepal for Hindu women, which prohibits them from participating in normal family activities during a menstruation period, as they are considered “impure” the red stain they carried on their forehead started being more and more bright in my eyes. The red voice I am trying to bring through this body of work portraying Nepali women is a creative intervention to start a discussion.”