Paying homage to more than half a century of friendship and cooperation between Cuba and Sri Lanka, the first Colombo edition of Reflejos – an exhibition of Cuban and Sri Lankan Art, was inaugurated at J.D.A. Perera Gallery Horton Place on Thursday. The exhibition, which will be on from January 21-31 will showcase selected works [...]

Sunday Times 2

Art exhibition celebrates 50 years of Sri Lanka-Cuba relations

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Paying homage to more than half a century of friendship and cooperation between Cuba and Sri Lanka, the first Colombo edition of Reflejos – an exhibition of Cuban and Sri Lankan Art, was inaugurated at J.D.A. Perera Gallery Horton Place on Thursday.
The exhibition, which will be on from January 21-31 will showcase selected works of 25 Cuban and Sri Lankan artists.

Reflejos, the brainchild of the former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Cuba, Tamara Kunanayakam stemmed from her dream to strengthen people to people relations between both countries. The art work on display at Reflejos Colombo edition is the creative work of these artists who did paintings for Reflejos exhibition inaugurated in July 2011 in Havana, on the occasion of the 52nd Anniversary of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Cuba.

Speaking at the opening of the Colombo edition of Reflejos, Ms. Kunanayakam said, “This is not the kind of exhibition where paintings of the artists are simply put on the wall. Each painting says something. It is how the artists see Sri Lanka- how they see the relations between the two countries.”

Her inspiration for Reflejos was based on the ideals of Jose Marti- Cuba’s great national leader, freedom fighter and poet.
“‘Being educated is the only way to be free’, he said. Not in the European philosophical sense of the self-made man, but rather in the sense common to non-European cultures that express the relationship between human beings and nature, implying that one person’s life (casually) affects others. Those who can not think beyond their village or their own nation will be crushed by giants with seven league boots, powers eager to divide and conquer,” she said.

She met with several Cuban artists – including late Vicente Bonachea to whom the Colombo edition of Reflejos is dedicated and also with the crème de la crème of Cuban artists – 22 of them – who came together to exchange views and discover more about Sri Lanka. They were joined by several Sri Lankan artists. It was at this point, the artists came up with the idea to hold an exhibition for Cuba-Sri Lanka solidarity.

Speaking at the inaugural opening, the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Florentino Batista said, “Reflejos is an example of coming together of two islands from opposite ends of the globe in pursuit of cultural enrichment, a human reflection on what makes us equals and different, but all part of one big family on Earth, the only house mankind has.”
The exhibition is open to the public free of charge.

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