‘Echo’ art exhibition recalls Sri Lanka’s troubled past

‘Echo’ is an exhibition of contemporary art — open until April 15, 2026 — put together by T. Sanathanan, Professor of Art History, Department of Fine Arts, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Supported by the Manicka Mankayerkarasi Cultural Centre Trust, it features the work of Tamil-speaking artists from the island’s north, east, and central hill country. Held at a traditional home that houses the Sri Lanka Archive of Contemporary Art, Architecture & Design and the Kolam arts and crafts store, on Temple Road, Nallur, at the heart of Jaffna town, the exhibition is an expression of the artists’ experience of discrimination, marginalisation, violence, and displacement. It is also a way of asserting their right to memory and resistance, as the country struggles to recover from a brutal civil war that ended in May 2009.

Reporting: Meera Srinivasan