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Bringing credit to the country through  Love And Peace

By Risidra Mendis 

A man with a vision and a professional by nature is the best way to describe renowned painter            and artist, Jayasiri Semage. Like many other artists Semage paints on canvass. However by using his artistic talent and intuition Semage is successful in depicting and bringing out the traditional Sri Lankan culture in his paintings.

Semage is a self taught artist. But by using his creative efforts and free style of deep expressions, Semage succeeds in bringing out the traditional Sri Lankan cultural outlook in his paintings. The use of contrasting colours and rhythmic expressions is the secret to the success of Semage’s paintings sought by hundreds of art lovers all over the world.

One of Semage’s famed paintings is now permanently on display at the great hall of the United Nations building in Geneva, Switzerland in appreciation of a man whose talent and experience has given him the will power and strength to go on painting. “I was invited by Japan to erect a large decorative pandal depicting Sinhala art forms and Buddhist themes” says Semage, who is pleased at having brought glory and prestige to his motherland.

The recipient of the Kalapathi, Kala Bhusana and the Kala Suri awards, Semage now plans to take his next exhibition to Sweden and Finland.

At his 12th  international exhibition titled Love And Peace to be held in Sweden and then Finland, Semage hopes to attract a large audience. According to Semage art lovers in these two countries will have the opportunity to see for themselves and appreciate forms of Sri Lankan culture and traditions at Love And Peace .

 Semage is an artist of international repute and one who has had close links with Sri Lankan art for many decades.

Having exhibited his exquisite pieces of art at exhibitions  all over the world Semage’s latest paintings will attract art lovers.  

Semage has held exhibitions in Sweden, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Nepal.  But at the Love And Peace exhibition Semage plans to display over 50 paintings on oil and canvass. These paintings will depict the traditional Sri Lankan culture. “Through these paintings I hope to attract the audiences of Sweden and Finland by giving them an insight into the rich and valuable culture of my motherland. Visitors to my exhibition will see oriental art at its best” says Semage.

Meanwhile President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have extended their warm wishes and congratulations to Semage for his valuable contribution to the country.

In a message to Semage the President has said “It is with a sense of appreciation that I send this congratulatory message to Kalasuri Semage, one of the senior most artists in Sri Lanka. Having bagged many international achievements in his career as an artist of unique identity, Semage is now extending his horizons to Finland. His exhibition in Finland gives every Sri Lankan art lover a new sense of pride.”

“Semage started his career as a painter and a journalist. He drew much inspiration from ancient traditions of the East, while adopting modern forms and techniques. This created an extremely beautiful and romantic version of paintings. These achievements won him the titles of Kalasuri and Kala Bhushana. I wish to congratulate him on his achievements and wish him well with the exhibitions that are being organised in Scandinavian countries.”

Meanwhile the PM in his message to Semage says, “Kalasuri Semage is an artist of international repute who is closely associated with Sri Lankan art for many decades. He has chosen to exhibit his paintings in Helsinki, Finland, this time, following many successful exhibitions he has held in Sweden, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Nepal”.

“It gives me great pleasure to note that he has chosen Love And Peace as the theme of this exhibition. What better medium to convey man’s love for peace than through paintings. Scandinavian art lovers have already been introduced to Semage’s art. Now for the first time in Finland, his art which is developed on the Sigiri-Ajanta tradition of medieval times, will make an inedible mark on Finish audiences. His themes are fusion of East and West making his work particularly appealing and popular among Western art aficionados.”

“His efforts convey the oasis of peace which prevails in his native land following a prolonged period of war and conflict. I wish his exhibition all success.”                  

Semage’s paintings will first be exhibited at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Sweden from October 6 to October 22 and will be steered by Ambasador, V. K. Valsen. From October 28 to November 21 the paintings will be on display at the National Cultural Center in Helsinki Finland which will be organised by Lakkana Yalagala.

Stafford set to Razzle Dazzle!

By Kumudu Amarasingham

Since of late we have been inundated by musicals, staged in particular by various schools eager to show off their talent. Not that we are complaining or anything — musicals are always a treat — when they are well done at least. But it is nice to note that Stafford International School has planned something a little different for the tons of music fans out there. 

Razzle Dazzle, as the show is appropriately named, is bound to be a treat. An enthralling line up includes tunes such as Rhythm Of Life, West Side Story and Broadway to popular hits by Michael Jackson. It is a mixed dish of eras and genres.

Kanchi Ranchinagoda and Yoshita Abeysekera will handle the choreography while the music will be directed by Soundarie David. Music will be provided by Niranjan de Silva on keyboards and Christopher Prins on drums with Soundarie on the piano.

A talented cast of over 80, including four past pupils, are set to get toes tapping and hands clapping in this selection that will thrill the young, not so young and young at heart. Asked what they felt about the whole affair, the two students present, Melanie and Samanthi, said they are “having loads of fun.” Both said they loved the selection and were sure the audience would love it too.

Asked why they were putting so much time and effort into this, Noreen Welikala, the principal of SIS said the idea was to build poise and instill confidence in the students. She added, shows like this help to create well rounded individuals.

The show will go on boards at the Lionel Wendt on October 10, 11 and 12 at 6:30pm. Tickets are available at the school premises. TNL radio and TV are the main media sponsors. This is undoubtedly something worth watching out for!

Sex and the city in Windbird

Inoka Sathyagani’s maiden film is passionate affirmation of the sanctity of human life. It rejoices in the sensuality of healthy, vigorous, youthful sex. It hints at the abysmal ignorance of young women in our prudish society, about the basic facts of life. It implicitly makes the case for sex education of adolescents. It questions the rationality of our laws on abortion. It demonstrates how the law on abortion permits doctors to exercise their propensities for greed and fraud. Perhaps unwittingly, it provides insight into what a physiologist would recognise as tranquilizing sex, pair-formation sex, and pair-maintenance sex (as opposed to procreative sex).

Realising, no doubt, that she had bitten off more than what a maiden film-maker can possibly chew in the realistic mode, she has imposed on the bulk of the film the format of a fantastic dream sandwiched between two episodes occurring during waking hours.

If the film is essentially about a dream, does it depict reality? Inoka Santhyangani who is responsible for its story, screenplay, direction and production, says that Sulang Kirilli is based on a true story. Her film art seems to imitate nature. Dreams are part of human life and Shakespeare’s Prosper goes so far as to say that “we are such stuff as dreams are made of.” So there is no reason why dreams cannot be used to explore reality. Inoka Sathyangani is clearly a cinema buff and the film is replete with symbolism and technique. In fact in one or two places I found myself wondering whether the film technique wasn’t overpowering film art.

To an old medic like me the pervading theme of the film — unanticipated and unwanted pregnancy and the consequences thereof — is neither novel nor shocking. Inoka Sathnayangani’s elaboration of the theme, however, held my sustained interest. Sulang Kirilli deserves to be seen by all intelligent adults with a sensitive conscience who wish to let themselves bump into current social reality. Being the creation of a young woman with an independent and controversial cast of mind, Sulang Kirilli does have the potential to become a tremendously influential film.

The film opens in the waking world with an unmarried, rustic, young woman, living away from home as a worker in a garment factory, learning for sure that she is pregnant. Her lover happens to be a soldier who has put his life on the line in order to preserve the physical integrity of his motherland. Biologically speaking, the purpose of sex is reproduction and in the natural work, when a young woman discovers that she is with child, she should feel fulfilled and jump for joy. No longer, do we live in a state of nature. Unlike in the animal world, society has imposed cultural and ethical norms on sex and reproduction, which vary enormously from place to place and from time to time.

In a given society at a given time the prevailing norms demand conformity and the price to pay for defying them could be terrible even for a famous philosopher let alone a humble village lass working as a factory hand. Thus, at one time Bertrand Russell, perhaps the most influential philosopher of the 20th century, lived together with Miss Dorna Black without getting married to her, professing the belief that true marriage had nothing to do with signing on the dotted line in a marriage register.

In 1921, however, when Black became pregnant, much to her great disappointment, Russell insisted on getting legally married to her before the birth of the child. He gave two reasons. First, the child may grow up feeling resentful of the parents for making him a legal bastard. Second, as an unmarried couple with an illegitimate child, they will have great difficulty in renting a house to live in, and hiring servants to work for them. Such were the woes of Christian England in those days. Since then the world has seen profound changes in social and sexual values.

But to return to Sulang Kirilli, for the young woman in the film, life itself becomes a real bastard when it transpires that her soldier lover is a married man with a pregnant wife. He runs out to be a duplicitous, selfish brutish character. Everybody including Inoka Sathyangani knows that in our country the kind of ruthless self interest manifested by this character is best exemplified by our doctors, who strike at the drop of a hat realising full well that such action may kill poor, innocent patients. But of course she couldn’t have credibly cast a medic in this role of impregnator because medics know all about contraception, and if contraception fails, how to procure cheap, safe, abortion!

by E.M.G Edirisinghe