The endless wait

Surrounded by walls, shrunk into a corner – the figure in the painting waits. Another hesitantly lingers outside an open door. “People are always waiting for something,” says Nelun Harasgama of her latest exhibition of paintings, ‘Waiting’, at the Barefoot Gallery, Colombo. Something they need; something they are afraid of; something good – which usually doesn’t turn out to be as good as they hoped it would be, she adds.

Despite the pessimism of that thought, Nelun is obviously content with her life and work. Rejecting change as something ‘frightening’ she seeks to maintain consistency in whatever she does – from the characteristic tall, thin figures without distinctive features that appear in her paintings – to the simple clothes she chooses to wear.

An artist from childhood, her artistic talents have taken many forms. Veteran copyist, designer, art director, painter and graphic designer, she is known for turning the books she designs into unique artistic creations. Having obtained a degree in Visual Communication from the University of Trent, she returned to the island in the eighties to pursue her career as an artist, working as a fabric designer at the Barefoot Gallery for almost 12 years. In 2005, Nelun was one of the recipients of the ‘Kala Shuri’ award.

Painting is a compulsion with her. “Designing is fun, painting is hard,” she admits. Yet, it is something she just ‘has to do’. Her oil paintings consist primarily of earth tones when painting figures and black is used on the landscapes to depict environmental damage. They do not portray deep reflections or morals, she says, but rather, are simple statements such as that of people always having to wait for something in life.

The featureless, willowy forms in her paintings are what she calls her ‘vanishing people’. “All the people who matter – the man who cleans the road, the farmer, people who wait for something on the verandah of their homes,” she reflects. They are people, she says, who perhaps do not fit in with our modern concept of life, or those who are no longer so necessary to us – therefore, we are slowly, unintentionally getting rid of them.

“She knows what’s intrinsically right,” says Nazreen Sansoni, Director, Barefoot Gallery, adding that Nelun’s work is something novel for Sri Lanka. Sometimes the viewer may see much more than she intended to reveal when looking at her work.

For all her success as an artist, Nelun’s greatest joys come from homely things – her six- year-old daughter, cooking for her family. She has no great plans for future works, but chooses to wait and see how things turn out, “just like in my paintings,” she smiles.

The exhibition of her paintings will continue at the Barefoot Gallery till November 19.