Darshanie Ratnawalli, in Island, 21 October 2017, with title as “A long, beautiful woman carries a garland,”
An elongated woman, not as elongated as a fashion designer’s sketch, but in exactly the right proportion for visual grace sits on the floor at her ease. The gold colour of her jacket and cloth shimmers, almost blazes out, creating a pearlescent cloud of luminance, behind which the darkness of the room is a solid backdrop. Both the luminance and the golden colour have texture that leaps out of the canvass inviting touch. An invitation revoked by norms of polite society, which insists that touching is the exclusive province of ownership. And ownership will not change at any price. Iromie Wijewardena will never part with her ‘Artist Collection’ of which ‘After the performance’ just described is part. One can only admire from the safe confines of her art deco living room, while under a guest’s obligation to respect the host’s possessions.
