Empowerment with choreography
View(s):- ‘Three Shapes of Memory’
Part of the public programme of ‘Empowerment: Art and Feminisms’, a South Asian multidisciplinary travelling exhibition ‘Three Shapes of Memory’ will be performed by three female artistes Kanchana Malshani, Srimalee Wijayanarayana and Hasanthi Niriella at JDA Perera Gallery, Colombo on August 10 from 6.00 to 7.00 pm.
Hasanthi Niriella
Memories shape our history, representing a collection of experiences that influence our current realities. Our relationship with memory often revolves around specific objects, situations, and stories. Its impact goes beyond the physical and resonates deeply within us. As three women in the Sri Lankan context, our individual memories reflect our lives and experiences. These personal stories intertwine, forming a collective memory. Throughout history, these collective memories have always faced limitations, erasures, and censorship by those in power. As three women, we mark our history by constructing our individual memories into a shared narrative. This connection binds us together in solidarity. By embracing our shared memories, we can find strength and unity, shaping both our past and our future.
Sri Lanka-based choreographer, performative artist, and educator, Kanchana Malshani is graduated with First Class Honours in Performing Arts from the University of Colombo. Classically trained in the myriad forms of Sri Lankan traditional dance by some of the country’s greatest living practitioners, her artistic practice, however, extends beyond tradition, she has developed a distinctive body of work that integrates performativity techniques, improvisation, and embodied research. Her work often blurs the boundaries between ritual, tradition, power relations and critical theory, engaging with themes such as memory, identity, and postcolonial resistance.
Kanchana Malshani
Srimalee Wijayanarayana is a Sri Lanka–based professional dancer, choreographer, movement artist, and dance educator. With a strong foundation in both traditional and contemporary dance, her work bridges cultural heritage with innovative movement practices across performance, choreography, and teaching. She graduated in Performing Arts from the University of the Visual and Performing Arts and is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Diploma in Education. She also completed the National Diploma in Choreography at the Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF), deepening her expertise in creative process and movement composition. Her shift into contemporary dance began in 2018 during a dance camp organised by the Goethe-Institut.
Srimalee Wijayanarayana
Hasanthi Niriella is a Sri Lankan movement artist, academic, and dance activist whose work spans traditional, classical, and contemporary forms. With a foundation in Kandyan dance and formal training in Bharatanatyam and Kathak, her current practice integrates contemplative movement inspired by Tai Chi fundamentals. Through performance and research, she explores the intersections of gender, memory, indigeneity, ritual, resistance, and wellbeing, often using a feminist and autoethnographic lens.
Held from August 4–11, the the exhibition ‘Empowerment’, features works by 31 feminist artists and collectives, the exhibition explores themes of gender, identity, care, resistance, and inclusion across South Asia. Curated by Andreas Beitin, Katharina Koch, and Uta Ruhkamp, ‘Empowerment’ is co-produced by Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai.
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