Monday, 17th November
17:30 - 20:00
Food served at 17:30 to 18:30
Presentation at 18:30 to 20:00
Tromsø Kunstforening, Mellomvegen 82 and online
Free entrance & food
SASUSU Radio and Dream Academy are delighted to be hosting a presentation and Q&A with T. Shanaathanan, visual artist and Professor of Art History at the University of Jaffna, Ilankai/Sri Lanka, titled “From Government employment to self expression: Visual art in Jaffna”
This presentation maps the socio-political history of contemporary art practice in Jaffna by examining key moments and movements: the Winzor Art Club (1930s–1950s), the Holiday Painters Group (1960s), the politicization of art in the 1980s, and the artistic responses that emerged in the aftermath of the armed struggle. It further explores how the cerebral search for Tamil identity in visual art—shaped by the traumatic experiences of loss, displacement, and disappearance—evolved into more intimate, memory-driven expressions grounded in lived experience.
The presentation will take place at Tromsø Kunstforening, where we will serve Tamil food immediately prior to the presentation, as well as online. We will serve a Jaffna-style fish curry, a vegetable curry in the same style, gova (shredded cabbage stir fry) and rice.
The presentation is one of a series of talks presented by Dream Academy in collaboration with SASUSU Radio in connection with the ongoing development of SASUSU as a community-based radio locally in Tromsø.
T. Shanaathanan
T.Shanaathanan is a visual artist and a Professor of Art History, Department of Fine Arts, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka . His artworks explore the meaning of home in the context of displacement and migration. His works have been exhibited widely in Sri Lanka and at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Vancouver; Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane; Museum of Ethnology, Vienna; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi, Asian Art Archive, Hong Kong, Kochi Art Biennial, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Lahore Biennial , Dhaka Art Summit, Sharjah Art Biennial among others. His artist book projects include ‘The One Year Drawing Project’,‘The Incomplete Thombu’ and A-Z of conflict, commissioned and published by Raking Leaves, London. He is also the author of several articles and book chapters on Modern and contemporary visual art in Sri Lanka. His books in Tamil include ‘Tagore’s Visit to Jaffna: Art, identity and Discourse’, ‘Modernity and Visual Art in Jaffna: 1920-1990’ and ‘Western Modernism:Painting, Sculpture and Architecture’. ‘Murals in Jaffna’ is his forthcoming book. Shanaathanan completed his bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in painting from University of Delhi and received his PhD in Art History from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Sanathanan is one of the co-founders of Sri Lankan Archive for Contemporary Art, Architecture and Design in Jaffna and founder of Kolam craft initiative.
SASUSU Radio
SASUSU Radio reimagine the borderless frequencies and guerilla communication transmitted through Eelam-Tamil communities worldwide. The Norwegian-Tamil radio platform builds bridges through meeting spaces that relies on listening and cultural exchange, which coexist within a diasporic framework. Based in Tromsø, the radio engages with local places and their communities using live radio to harvest knowledge and new understandings.
Dream Academy
The Dream Academy is a self-organized, experimental art academy, building on the premise that art education is a form of lifelong learning where artistic practice, theoretical reflection and everyday life meet.
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