Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah

Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah (b.1989; lives and works in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka) is a multimedia artist whose practice ranges from installations to performance-based soundscapes, videos, and drawings. His work focuses on the destructive impact of Sri Lanka’s prolonged civil war, its effects on the ecological world and the lives of people existing amidst the ceaseless violence and trauma. Using motifs such as mycelium, reminiscent of the damaging wounds inflicted on nature, while reflecting on how land becomes the bearer of the vestiges of war, Pakkiyarajah’s work explores how nature is rendered vulnerable due to human actions and offers a lens into how they are inextricably linked to each other.