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An artist who is largely self-taught, Anoli Perera comes from an academic background of political science and international relations, later exploring themes related to such areas through art. She is trained in stone carving from Artworks: The Visual Art School of Princeton for Continuing Education, New Jersey, USA, and has worked extensively for more than 25 years in the art industry in Sri Lanka, as well as abroad in countries including India, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States. Perera is one of the co-founders of the Theertha Artists’ Collective, which is a progressive art initiative that provides a platform for contemporary artists via the Theertha Red Dot Gallery. She currently divides her time between her home in Rajagiriya, Colombo and Delhi. Anoli has been instrumental in reviving the contemporary art scene in Sri Lanka through her mentoring, academic engagement as well as frequent workshops focusing on practice-based work and international collaborations giving local artists exposure at an international level.
This work ideologically fuse with aspects of history, domesticity, body, memory, identity, myth, colonial and postcolonial anxieties, informed especially by feminist thought. Her latest pieces “Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life” and “I Let My Hair Loose: Protest” created for the Kochi-Muziris Biennale encapsulate female subjectivity and remembrance between increasingly disconnected communities due to the phenomena of mass migration. Referring to “Possibilities for a Non-Alienated Life” Perera stated, “negotiating connectivity, proximity and access becomes painful conversations and self-preservation becomes primal. Love suffers. We, who are born in this ‘connected but disconnected’ age, have become the victims of this cruel dichotomy.” The lack of real and tactile intimacy between people in the world of new technology, urbanization and mass migration is what Anoli highlights through this piece, which was inspired by the distant and emotionally painstaking long-distance relationship she, as an artist who constantly travels, has to share with her mother.
Perera’s solo exhibition The City, Janus-Faced held in 2018 at the Shrine Empire Gallery in New Delhi, India was based on the symbolism of Janus, a Roman God who is a two-faced guardian of doorways. Janus, for Perera signifies “inflow and outflow, the past and the present, becoming and unbecoming”, the binary of human life in the megapolis, which is characterised by influxes of urban development, advanced technology and mass migration. The exhibition consisted of a number of paintings and installations created using a variety of mediums such as acrylic, charcoal, fabric, ink, watercolour, printed images and wax, focusing on the hyper-urban existence of contemporary society. Perera’s works from the collection attempt to recreate as well as deconstruct the manner in which lives have become fast-paced, disconnected, mechanical and of constant level of unfathomable movement. Adwait Singh described the exhibition as one that was cutting-edge and revelatory about urbanity and the
urban existence of humans: “with figures dangling in mid-air or dwarfed by skyscrapers, the surreal cityscapes bring to mind rapidly shifting cartographies and the vertical development of cities, often executed at the cost of rampant disenfranchisement and misery at the grassroots level. Both the flat and sculptural works paint the metropolis as a palimpsest of different and sometimes antagonistic visions of utopia, urban planning, economic and political interests.”
Perera’s specialization is in painting, sculpture and installation art created using her signature technique and mode of expression, which she refers to as “bricolage”; she incorporates day-to-day raw materials including textile, objects, written texts and painted surfaces to create a final piece of art that engages with the socio-cultural contexts that surround her in the everyday. She highlights that working with textile allows her to deconstruct the socio-cultural and political elements she wants to represent through her work, as textile materials have “a tendency to get ethnic, class and gender indexed, while they also hold many histories in their folds.” This characteristic of the medium contributes to the artistic statements that the artsistattempts to make, as the different histories and memories encapsulated by the textiles emerge during her creative process. The installation “Long Walk” developed for the exhibition The City, Janus-Faced exemplifies this aspect of bricolage in Perera’s work as she collates an artistic piece using fabric, cotton stuffing, PVC pipes, magnifying lenses and printed images. The intricate details of the final bricolage speak volumes about the rapidity and intensity of the inflow and outflow patterns in metropolitan areas, with hundreds of vibrant pieces of rolled-up fabric, signifying individual dreams, memories and utopias, put together. However, the artwork makes it evident that in the hyper-urban existence of the new millenium different histories merge to create a novel narrative about the city, represented by the larger canvas holding the pieces of fabric together.
| Name of Exhibition | Year | Place |
|---|---|---|
| Faces and Figures | 1989 | Pascual's Upstairs Gallery, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| A Painting Exhibition | 1989 | Cabrillo Art Center, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| A Painting and Photography Exhibition | 1989 | Antioch University Gallery, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| Diversity, The Unfolding Mystery | 1989 | University Center Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| Reflecting Culture Through Art | 1989 | Reynolds Gallery and Kerrwood Gallery, Westmont College, Montecito, California, USA |
| Spectrum: An Exhibition of Paintings | 1989 | Antioch University Gallery, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| Kala Nirmana | 1989 | Multicultural Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA. |
| Art: the Prism of the Spirit | 1991 | Gallery 1434, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| An Exhibition of Paintings | 1991 | University Center Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA |
| An Exhibition of Paintings | 1991 | “Nicoleti” (University Center), University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA |
| An Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture | 1992 | The Students’ Center, Chancellor Green Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA |
| Young Contemporaries Exhibition | 1993 | The National Art Gallery. Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| An Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture | 1993 | The Alliance Francaise de Colombo Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Aditi, an exhibition of sculpture | 1995 | Hotel Ceylon Inter-Continental, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Aditi, an exhibition of paintings and sculpture | 1995 | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| NawaKalakaruwo Exhibition | 1995 | The National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Young Contemporaries Exhibition | 1996 | The National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| First International Artists’ Camp Exhibition | 1997 | National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Exhibition of Contemporary Sri Lankan Sculpture | 1997 | The National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| NawaKalakaruwo Exhibition | 1997 | The National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Aditi, an exhibition of paintings | 1997 | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Self Help | 1998 | Malmö, Växjö, Örebro and Stockholm, Sweden |
| The Vehicle Named Woman | 1998 | Heritage Gallery. Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Modes and Moods | 1998 | The National Art Gallery. Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Self Help Art Exhibition | 1998 | Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| INDEPENDENCE,an art exhibition to commemorate 50 years of independence in Sri Lanka | 1998 | Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| No Order Group Exhibition | 1999 | VAFA Gallery, EthulKotte, Sri Lanka |
| Third International Artists’ Camp Exhibition | 1999 | National Art Gallery. Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Exhibition of selected works by women artists commemorating ‘Women’s Day’ | 1999 | VAFA Gallery. EthulKotte, Sri Lanka |
| My Narratives | 1999 | Gallery 706, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Reclaiming Histories: A Retrospective Exhibition of Women’s Art | 2000 | Sapumal Foundation Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| In the Entangled Web | 2001 | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Crafty Thoughts | 2002 | University of Liverpool Gallery, Liverpool, UK |
| Asian Art Festival | 2002 | Fukuoka, Japan. |
| 2nd Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale | 2002 | Fukuoka, Japan. |
| Goddesses Descending | 2003 | Studio @ HW Architects, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Urban and the Individual | 2004 | Finomenal Space Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Ten Artists Exhibition | 2005 | Millesgarden, Lidingo, Sweden |
| Swedish Sri Lankan Artists’’ Residency Exhibition | 2005 | Harold Peiris Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka. |
| critical Intimacy | 2006 | Harold Peiris Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Images of Globalization | 2007 | National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Arte Curioso | 2007 | Red Dot Gallery, Pita Kotte, Sri Lanka |
| Comfort Zones | 2007 | Red Dot Gallery, Pita Kotte, Sri Lanka |
| Six Degrees of Separation | 2008 | Ananth Gallery, Delhi, India |
| Separating Myth from Reality (Art Festival) | 2009 | Siddhartha Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Artful Resistance: Crisis and Creativity in Sri Lanka | 2009 | Museum fürVölkerkunde, Austria |
| Colombo Art Biennale | 2009 | Park Street, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Theertha Art- Works on Paper | 2009 | National Art Gallery, Male, Maldives |
| Creating Commonwealth | 2010 | DLF Emporio Mall (by Gallery Ragini), Delhi, India |
| Artful Resistance: Contemporary Art From Sri Lanka | 2010 | Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt, Germany |
| Theertha Artists at Shanthi Road | 2010 | 1 Shanthi Road, Bangalore, India |
| Between Kismet and Karma | 2010 | Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, UK |
| Theertha Artists at Shanthi Road | 2011 | 1 Shanthi Road, Bangalore, India |
| Kuveni: The Queen of Lanka | 2011 | Hempel Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Comfort Zones | 2012 | Kashi Gallery, Kochi, India |
| Becoming: Colombo Art Biennale | 2012 | J. D. A. Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Serendipity Revealed | 2013 | China Art Project Space, Hong Kong |
| Art Basel 2013 | 2013 | Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong |
| India Art Fair | 2013 | NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi, India |
| Memory Keeper | 2013 | Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi, India |
| Beware: Wet Ink | 2014 | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Serendipity Revealed | 2014 | Brunei Gallery, London, UK |
| Invented Identities | 2014 | Shrine Empire Gallery, New Delhi, India |
| Memorabilia | 2014 | Gallery Sumukha, Bangalore, India |
| Colombo Art Biennale | 2014 | J. D. A. Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| India Art Fair | 2014 | NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi, India |
| Performed | 2015 | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Excavation/ Eruption | 2015 | Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, India |
| India Art Fair | 2015 | NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, New Delhi, India |
| Name of Book | Year of Publication | Author | Printer |
|---|---|---|---|
Other Publicaitons the Artist has been mentioned in |
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Documentaries |
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| Name of Documentary | Year of Production | ||
| “A Socio-Political Reading of Yanthra Gala and the Round Pilgrimage”. Review of Yanthra Gala and the Round Pilgrimage, the exhibition of paintings and installation by JagathWeerasinghe. The Daily News, 8th October 1997, Colombo. | 1997 | ||
| “Reading the Art of Sensibility”. Review of The Art of Sensibility, H.A Karunratne’s exhibition of paintings. The Sunday Leader, 1st September 1997, Colombo. | 1997 | ||
| Defining Authenticity. Catalogue of the 1st International Artists Camp, | 1997 | ||
| “Angels”. Review of Balbir Bodh’s exhibition of paintings. Sunday Observer Magazine, 7th June 1998, Colombo. | 1998 | ||
| “After a Dialogue with Two Artists”. Review of Dialogue, Christa Weber’s and JagathWeerasinghe’s exhibition of paintings. The Daily News, 28th January 1998, Colombo. | 1998 | ||
| “Signs and Portents: An Exhibition of Artworks”. Review of exhibition by Yvonne Wiegers. The Daily News. 9th June 1999, Colombo, Sri Lanka. | 1999 | ||
| “State of Sri Lankan Art”. Frontline. Issue of February 26th 1999. Chennai, India. | 1999 | ||
| “New Strokes in ‘Independent Art.’” Introduction to the exhibition of paintings commemorating 50 years of Sri Lankan independence. The Sunday Leader, 15th February 1998, Colombo. | 2000 | ||
| Is Artist’s Freedom a Negotiated Autonomy? KHOJ India International Artists Workshop 1999 catalogue. New Delhi, India. | 2000 | ||
| Artists Against Violence: An Art Exhibition for Peace and Reconciliation. Catalogue of the NeelanThiruchelvam Commemorative Exhibition. 29th January 2000. Colombo, Sri Lanka. | 2000 | ||
| “A New Order: Contemporary Visual Art in Sri Lanka”. Art Asia Pacific Issue 26, Sydney, Australia | 2000 | ||
| Reclaiming Histories… Catalogue of Reclaiming Histories: Retrospective Exhibition of Women’s Art, Colombo, Sri Lanka. | 2000 | ||
| “Historical Overlappings” (co-written with HiranthiWelandawa). In Architecture, Time, Space, People, Vol.1, Issue 7, October 2001. pp. 34-48. | 2001 | ||
| Mapping Art South Asia. Eds. John Holt, Fareda Khan, AlnoorMetha, Jacques Rangasamy and Laura Tarney, London: Shisha. | 2006 | ||
| “Men, Women and Architecture: Gender Identities and the Appropriation of Space” (co-written with HiranthiWelandawa) in Women and the Built Environment / Edited by Madhavi Desai. 1st ed. New Delhi: Zubaan. | 2007 | ||
| “Women Artists in Sri Lanka: Are They Carriers of a Women’s Burden”. In South Asia Journal vol. 2, Pitakotte: Colombo Institute/ Theertha. | 2008 | ||
| “Celestial Fervor: A Prelude to an Exhibition”. In Celestial Fervor: Art of JagathWeerasinghe ,Pitakotte: Red Dot Gallery/Theertha. | 2009 | ||
Ref :AN PER 28
Title :Cubist’s Dream 1
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2000
Measurements in Cms :42 x 29.5
Material Used :Acrylic, Charcoal, Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :42 x 29.5
Ref :AN PER 29
Title :Cubist’s Dream 2
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2000
Measurements in Cms :42 x 29.5
Material Used :Acrylic, Charcoal on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :42 x 29.5
Ref :AN PER 13
Title :Dream Series 1
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2003
Measurements in Cms :37.5 x 27.5
Material Used :Mixed Media on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :37.5 x 27.5
Ref :AN PER 45
Title :Portrait
Signed :Middle Right
Year :2005
Measurements in Cms :38 x 28
Material Used :Acrylic, Pencil and Ink on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :38 x 28
Ref :AN PER 23
Title :The Search of my Second Skin
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2006
Measurements in Cms :58 x 45
Material Used :Pastel, Acrylic, Charcoal, Ink on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :58 x 45
Ref :AN PER 42
Title :Lace
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2006
Measurements in Cms :41 x 29
Material Used :Acrylic and Ink on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :41 x 29
Ref :AN PER 69
Title :Comfort Bodies VII
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2007
Measurements in Cms :61 x 43.5
Material Used :Graphite Pencil on Water Colour Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :61 x 43.5
Ref :AN PER 70
Title :Comfort Bodies VI
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2007
Measurements in Cms :41 x 43
Material Used :Graphite Pencil on Water Colour Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :41 x 43
Ref :AN PER 36
Title :Mother I
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2008
Measurements in Cms :63 x 51
Material Used :Acrylic, Charcoal, Ink on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :63 x 51
Ref :AN PER 18
Title :Civilizing Serendib – Series II
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2009
Measurements in Cms :63 x 51
Material Used :Acrylic, Water Colour on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :63 x 51
Ref :AN PER 62
Title :I Let My Hair Loose - Protest Series V
Signed :-
Year :2010
Measurements in Cms :76 x 51
Material Used :Ink Jet on Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta Warmtone Fine Art Paper – Edition 1/3
Dimensions in Cms. :76 x 51
Ref :AN PER 58
Title :Civilizing Serendib – Series III
Signed :-
Year :2010
Measurements in Cms :75.5 x 50.5
Material Used :Inkjet on Hahnemuhle Gloss Baryta Warmtone Fine Art Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :75.5 x 50.5
Ref :AN PER 10
Title :Trojan Horse in the Premonition
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2011
Measurements in Cms :37 x 29.5
Material Used :Acrylic, Ball Point Pen & Ink on Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :37 x 29.5
Ref :AN PER 71
Title :Imagined Utophia
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2015
Measurements in Cms :68.5 x 54
Material Used :Acrylic, Ink, Charcoal on Water Colour Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :68.5 x 54
Ref :AN PER 64
Title :Inescapable Inheritances 11
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2016
Measurements in Cms :53 x 52
Material Used :Digital Print, Acrylic, Charcoal, Water Color and Pencil on Acid Free Water Color Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :53 x 52
Ref :AN PER 61
Title :Reinventing Landscape 11
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2016
Measurements in Cms :55.5 x 70.5
Material Used :Printed Image and Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions in Cms. :55.5 x 70.5
Ref :AN PER 72
Title :I can’t see the End. Neither can I see the Beginning – Series III
Signed :Lower Right
Year :2016
Measurements in Cms :61 x 38
Material Used :Acrylic, Ink, Charcoal, Pencil & Printed Image on Archival Hahnemuhle Fine Art Paper
Dimensions in Cms. :61 x 38
| Year | Institute | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | University of Colombo, Sri Lanka | B.A in Political Science, Sociology, and Economics |
| 1986 | Bandaranaike Center for International Studies, Sri Lanka | Post Graduate Diploma in International Affairs |
| 1989 | Continuing Education Program, Santa Barbara City College, California, USA | Studio Three: Adult Education Art Group |
| 1991 | Artworks: The Visual Art School for Continuing Education, Princeton, New Jersey, USA | Short Course on Stone Carving and Apprenticeship under sculptor Milt Liebson |