Commemorating home: Art as place making, an artist's narration. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Shanaathanan, Thamotharampillai
• Other Names: Jazeel Tariq guest-editor.; Mookherjee Nayanika guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of material culture. Volume 20:Number 4(2015)
• Page Start: 415
• Page End: 428
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: aesthetics -- art -- home -- place -- Sri Lanka; Material culture -- Periodicals; 306
• DOI: 10.1177/1359183515605858
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-1835

Abstract

The damage caused by 26 years of armed conflict in its various forms on the social fabric of the Sri Lankan Tamil community has led to the loss of place, as well as displacement for many, compelling individuals to live with traumatic and fragile memories of home. This visual essay foregrounds the changing role of the author's own artistic practice conceived both as eye witness and facilitator in this context. The essay also explores how anthropological tools and museum techniques are employed to draw audiences into the aesthetics of individual pain connected to experiences of loss and displacement in conflict situations.