09 Feb Extending space of the Palace

a series of painting and manipulated photography work by artist Rupaneethan Pakkiyarajah at the 9th Episode of Uronto Residential Art Exchange Program in Dubolhati Palace in Naogaon, BD.

Through his artworks, Rupaneethan have been investigating the connection between the power hierarchies and the construction of identities connecting land and people..

The abandoned Dubolhati Palace is holding evidence of multiple cultural elements and the history of more than 200 years. People are looting the bricks from the walls, looting the windows and doors and they have been selling and also using them. Such parts of the building are attached and composed in some ordinary houses.  In the design order in this palace,  the heads of the statues have broken. In some houses surround the palace, children use to play the heads of the statues. This palace has been used as a meeting place in the daytime. people use this building to interact with each other. There are many trees, the family and other lives near the palace enjoy climbing up on the massive palace and trees. They are the witness of all human activities including violence and using drugs in the building.

Rupaneethan looked at the inside and the outside of the space and surface through the holes where are no walls, windows, and bricks in the palace. In his drawings, he took reference from his photographs of the destroyed walls of the palace and also the objects that related to the history of the building from the surrounding area to connect them and make a new visual experience.  

The final display of his work was shown at the open studio day in a corner of the palace where the area is half broken and the shapes are very unpredictable, but had a transformation suddenly complementing the installed paintings.

Rupaneethan Pakkiyarajah is a brilliant Visual artist from Sri Lanka.  After completing his Graduation in Arts and Design, he is interested to explore the traditional artistic methods and ethnographical lifestyle of artisans focusing on potters mostly.