Grieving and Mycelium (2021–2022)

Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah

Grieving and Mycelium
2021–2022
Steel rod, hardware cloth, paper, wood dust, wood glue, rubber, Golden Fluid Matte Medium, rope, thread and acrylic
548.64 x 152.4 x 30.48 cm
Credit: Eseosa Ogbeifun (studio assistant) Thanks to Iftikhar Dadi, Dianna Frid, Faheem Majeed, Dan Peterman, Juan Baños Fonseca and Beate Geissler

Straddling Ocean and Sky
2021–2022
Animated film
4 minutes 40 seconds
Credits: Benadick Siron (flute), Johann Peiris (piano), Rajenderan Logeshdevar (violin), Nowfar Alm (sound editing), Jeyaram Yuthesdran (mixing and mastering), Suthakaran Lovikaran (parai, sangu and udukku) and Priscilla George (composer
and vocals)

Courtesy of the artist

Overview

Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah’s paintings and video installations reflect on the painful and frequently suppressed legacies of Sri Lanka’s lengthy civil war (1983–2009). The animated film Straddling Ocean and Sky (2021–2022) contemplates the relationship between colonialism and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka
and the role of transnational forces in shaping these histories. Accompanied by Sri Lankan folk and classical musicians, this animation is displayed alongside the sculpture Grieving and Mycelium (2021–2022), which proposes the regenerative power of mycorrhizal networks as a metaphor for the connective function of art in healing collective trauma of globalisation.

Related Content

prev next