Pushpakanthan Pakkiyarajah | No Race, No Colour

Pakkiyarajah reflects, “There is no race, color, or creed in flowers. They accompany us on our journeys, serving as a silent witness in funerals, ceremonies, and rituals. They represent and remind us of our departed loved ones. Flowers never cause strife or devastation; instead, they quietly offer beauty and meaning as they bloom.” Other emblems that accompany the artist include the blood moon. This unique celestial phenomenon becomes a leitmotif, especially in his stop motion animation Straddling Ocean and Sky (2021–2022), first exhibited at Sharjah Biennial 15, and earlier drawing series. It is also a signifier of those who have been silenced and disappeared. The blood moon is seen in different sequences of the 4-minute animation ensemble across a matrix of water and sky. Fish and passing ships convey Sri Lanka’s civilizational legacy and colonial conquests being shaped in a foamy Indian Ocean. From charting imperial cartography to borderscapes, thousands of found images are overlaid with drawings to make time leaps and convey current social schisms. The artist connects the vector of coloniality with militarized violence and traps of liberal capitalism—delving from the island vantage to macro perspectives. The surrealism in these works is distinctive as it encircles creatures and the elements. For example, experiences of subjective intergenerational trauma are evoked through an immense dark sky and in other works, upright palmyra trees that have turned black. The artist conveys, “the sky is related to our belief in life after death and power.” The score for this animated short included a unique collaboration with folk and classical musicians from across the island, many of whom were producing such a composite track for the first time, where piano chords are heard with striking grooves of a local small drum (udekki), summoning an affective paradox of extinction and rebirth.