The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka (MMCA Sri Lanka) opened Rotation 2 of their exhibition ‘Total Landscaping’ on December 15. Curated by Sandev Handy and Thinal Sajeewa, the exhibition explores the broad, dramatic, and stirring ways in which landscapes have transformed in Sri Lanka.
Rotation 2 of ‘Total Landscaping’ features nine contemporary artists from Sri Lanka. They include Abdul Halik Azeez (b.1985), Chandraguptha Thenuwara (b.1960), Danushka Marasinghe (b.1985), Dominic Sansoni (b.1956), Jasmine Nilani Joseph (b.1990), Koralegedara Pushpakumara (b.1968), Pala Pothupitiya (b.1972), Pradeep Thalawatta (b.1979), and T. Shanaathanan (b.1969).
Senior Curator at the MMCA Sri Lanka Handy said, “Artists have long examined power — how it operates and the tools used to enforce it. Contemporary artists are no different,” adding that, “At a time when questions of borders, access, and authority over land are being reckoned with in urgent ways, Rotation 2 of ‘Total Landscaping’ hones in on how our relationship to land is regulated.” He said, “The artworks in this rotation highlight the role of everyday images, maps, documents, and barricades in dictating how land is claimed, coded, and contested, determining who has access, who is excluded, and whose histories are made visible.”
Opening in three rotations over eight months, ‘Total Landscaping’ brings together 29 contemporary artists whose works go beyond traditional illustrations of landscapes. Instead, their works register the different ways in which perceptions of land have been constructed and contested. ‘Total Landscaping’ unfolds as a sequence of changing displays that elicit an all-out renegotiation of our relationships to land. Rotation 2 of ‘Total Landscaping’ is open to the public until March 2, 2025. Entry to the exhibition is free. The museum is on the ground floor of Crescat Boulevard, Colombo 3.
“Rotation 2 of ‘Total Landscaping’ will introduce a new selection of works spanning from photographs and paintings to sculptures and installations. “A paddy wild installation titled ‘Walk(er)’ by Danushka Marasinghe will remain in place from Rotation 1, continuing to introduce the exhibition,” said Sajeewa. He said, “This rotation also features three interactive artworks that promise to offer an engaging experience for visitors.” These interactive works include Pradeep Thalawatta’s ‘You came to see me, and now I’m here’ (2023) and T. Shanaathanan’s ‘Drawers of War Transactions’ (2019), which are both being exhibited for the first time in Sri Lanka.”
