Jagath Weerasinghe’s work is a direct response to the social and political violence of Sri Lanka’s conflicts.
His figurative work expresses the brutality of war carrying with it the emotional burden of Sinhalese guilt
and shame for the destruction and death wrought by its short-sighted identity politics. In this exhibition,
his work is heavy with visceral and emotional intensity. Compelled to challenge notions of identity,
nationhood and religious purity, he taps into a multi-generational Sri Lankan anxiety. Intentionally
unsettling the viewer, the thick, vibrant colours and determined brushstrokes depict imposing male
bodies and human figures in frenzied contortions. They occupy barren, desolate landscapes in the wake
of war, shocking his audience into removing the blinkers that blind them to the tragedy of humanity. He
provokes the viewer to hear what the camouflaged boots and the snakes have to say about the altruism
of the state, in a war billed as a ‘humanitarian rescue’.