COLOMBO (Commonwealth Union)_Sri Lanka’s first curated Non-Fungible Token digital art exhibition – The Brilliant Resilient featuring 26 works of 15 Sri Lankan artists was pre-launched recently in Colombo on the international digital art platform The Upside Space. Responding to the recent socio-political and economic challenges, the exhibition curated by Kesara Ratnavibhushana heralded the artists’ unique creative response to some of the biggest challenges Sri Lanka has faced in modern history.
TUS is co-founded by art professional and philanthropist Ayesha Khan and award winning actress who played memorable roles in Water and the World Unseen, author of Close to the Bone – a memoir when diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, activist, motivational speaker, TV host and entrepreneur Lisa Ray. TUS focuses on curator-led exhibitions with a very high degree of investment in selecting artists from creative communities from Southeast Asia, South Asia & the Middle East.
The 26 artworks for exclusive pre-sale and 7 physical pieces combined a phygital exhibition with nearly all acquired by first collectors. The featured artists included those with a significant international following and collectorship – Anoma Wijewardene, Anoli Perera and Prageeth Manohansa who also offered limited edition prints and one-off physical pieces. Nuwan Shilpa, photographer Aamina Nizar and a layered visceral performance piece by transgender artist Vasi Samudra Devi are among the other artists whose works were in the NFT space.
Art has a way of making the very ground we stand on vibrate with emotion – it’s magnetic, thought provoking and responsive. And it is this responsiveness that sparked the name, The Brilliant Resilient, adding a landscape to harness the potential of art to critique, inform, discuss and rally the cry of the citizenry. “Brilliant” refers to the sparkle of hope and the collective effort of artists who have pushed to represent and reimagine their state and status quo. “Resilient” moves to the heart of the people, the resilience that has now become characteristic of this island nation.
As Ray says: “Fortunately or unfortunately, really strong art practises emerge in times of turmoil and distress. Sri Lanka is now emerging from those times. What is beautiful about the artists is that much of the work is a very immediate response to everything that’s been going on in recent times. It encapsulates that emotional resonance on the one hand and the spirit of resistance on the other. That’s a potent combination.
“I want to highlight that art is so strong in Sri Lanka and the artists so talented, it is imperative for them to have global visibility. NFTs are coaxing and engaging them to enter that space, which will compel them to produce really powerful work.”
