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Sri Lankan artist Shanaka Kulathunga’s Silent Stories opens in Delhi
The artist’s first solo in India brings 40 recent works exploring everyday life and shared human experiences.
As Delhi sweltered under relentless summer heat, the softly lit rooms of CCA Gallery at Bikaner House offered a welcome pause. At the VIP preview of Silent Stories, Sri Lankan artist Shanaka Kulathunga drew viewers into a world rooted in everyday life, seen through a more reflective lens.
Spread across over 40 works in oils, acrylics and charcoal, Kulathunga’s debut solo in India moves between portraiture, rural landscapes and imagined worlds. A girl stands with her goats under an otherworldly sky; a dancer dissolves into peacocks; a lone figure holds the moon in an open palm. Talking about his style, Kulathunga said, "I am a philosophical and psychological being. There is some mental exercise that I have gone through. You can see them in some magical, mythical forms. But the basic theme is about humanity.”
Humanity in all its fragility and resilience runs through every canvas, whether it is a human figure or a landscape, the artist locates himself within it. “Everywhere I see myself - the struggle that I have, the problems and the situation that I face,” he added. The works were created between 2024 and 2026, making them recent and reflective of his current practice.
At the preview, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Mahishini Colonne noted how the works move beyond labels. She said, “His paintings don’t announce their Sri Lankanness. They are simply a mother, a dancer among peacocks, a figure between darkness and light,” she said, pointing to their universal appeal.
Curated by Archana Khare-Ghose, the exhibition also becomes a subtle dialogue between India and Sri Lanka. Colonne added, "These are not exotic scenes from a distant island like Sri Lanka, but they're scenes of a shared world. The world that all of us know and share."
Vikram Mayor, Director, Gallery Silver Scapes, said, “Bringing Shanaka Kulathunga’s work to India has been a deeply special experience for us at Gallery Silver Scapes. I have always admired the emotional depth and painterly quality of his practice, particularly the sensitivity in his landscapes and seascapes."
The exhibition, on view till May 28, offers a glimpse into Kulathunga’s evolving practice while highlighting shared threads between India and Sri Lanka.
