Anoli Perera’s (b.1962, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Currently works and lives in Colombo) practice is situated within critical feminist discourse, engaging with themes of identity, history, myth, and postcolonial anxiety. Her work examines how personal memory intersects with broader socio political narratives, particularly through the lens of women lived experience. In her Doll Series and Doll House Series, nostalgia is constructed as a fragmented and a temporal space, where disjointed memories are reassembled into an uncanny visual field. This imagined terrain reflects both longing and estrangement, questioning whether nostalgia functions as escape or entrapment within a constructed past.
Her practice employs mixed media and craft based methodologies, drawing on materials associated with domesticity and gendered labor. Through processes of layering, assemblage, and material intervention, she challenges hierarchies between fine art and craft. The tactile and intimate qualities of her work allow personal histories to merge with collective memory, producing visually and conceptually dense compositions.
Perera studied Political Science, Economics, and Sociology at the University of Colombo and later completed a postgraduate diploma in international affairs. Her interdisciplinary background informs the intellectual depth of her practice. She began her artistic career during her time in the United States and has since become a pioneering figure in contemporary Sri Lankan art.
Her work has been widely exhibited internationally, including the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale, and major museum exhibitions in Europe and Asia. Her works are held in prominent collections such as the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Devi Art Foundation, and the Presidential Collection of Sri Lanka.