Kavishwara Jayasekara Sri Lankan, b. 1996
12 1/4 x 12 1/4 in
Through this
work, the artist critically examines the rise of the new capitalist class
within Sri Lanka’s contemporary socio-economic system and its cultural and
political influence. The work visualizes how new economic structures,
practices, and forms of power, centred around the emerging capitalist class of
the Low Country, are expanding and shaping society.
The artwork is
created by blending the iconography and linear characteristics of traditional
southern Sri Lankan temple mural painting with contemporary social symbols. The
fashions, economic behaviours, and contemporary political and social currents
emerging within the culture of the new elite—including elements such as the
proliferation of the colour blue and the culture of wearing suits—are
represented through the traditional visual language in an ironic and critical
manner.
With a sense of
historical awareness, the work seeks to question, within an artistic space, the
ways in which contemporary urbanization and the emerging elite class influence
and shape society.