The term ‘memory-keeper’ may be unfamiliar as a cultural symbol, but it is one that is emblematic of the feminine role in most communities. It is an identity that characterizes a woman who passes down culture onto future generations, ‘keeping’ the nation’s legacy and maintaining its traditions. In her works, contemporary artist Anoli Perera employs the analogies of floral work to represent femininity, and their occupations as ‘memory keepers’. It is the theme of femininity and identity perceived through the subversion of floral motifs that we attempt to explore of Anoli’s works in ARTRA’s Subverted Flowers edition. The motifs applied in her work, from floral objects, memorabilia and flower-patterned symbols are those that are indicative to the connotations that have been associated with the role of ‘memory keepers’. These motifs are symbolic to her works, demonstrating the significance through which women were perceived and depicting the vitality of the essence of memory-keeping as it was a crucial medium that carried and passed down culture, while facilitated by colonial symbols that have similarly personalized the feminine stereotype through fabric and design. Thus, we find Anoli’s works subverting flowers in the environment of gendered categories, identifying communities and culture and additionally, addressing the colonial legacy of the nation through floral emblems.
Anoli Perera received her art education at City College, Santa Barbara and Artworks, Princeton, USA. Her studies in Political Science, Economics and Sociology at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka in the early 1980s were followed by a postgraduate diploma in International Affairs from the Bandaranaike Center for International Studies, Sri Lanka. Her works have been exhibited in Colomboscope, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2019; 4th Edition of Kochi Muziris Biennale, Kochi, India, 2018; Colombo Art Biennale, 2009, 2012 & 2014; ‘Artful Resistance’ Museum of Anthropology, Vienna, Austria, 2009 and Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt, Germany, 2010 amongst others. Her work was included in the exhibition, ‘Greetings from India’ organized as part of 5th Edition of Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival in November 2019 in China. She was invited to show at the launching exhibition of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Sri Lanka, ‘One Hundred Thousand Small Tales’, 2019. Anoli Perera is a co-founder of the Theertha International Artists Collective, a progressive art initiative based in Colombo. She currently lives and works alternatively in New Delhi, India and Colombo, Sri Lanka. This edition of ARTRA Magazine, in its attempt to subvert flowers, features a collection by the artist from visual depictions of objects and paraphernalia that carrying the notions of floral imagery and patterns. In exploring the subject of subverting flowers, we converse with Anoli Perera as she dissects the ways in which she has implemented the floral motifs and what of those represent cultural and colonial nuances.
