SURA MEDURA - Blog 3 - Love to Sri Lanka





































Startled shadow of the fruit bat
swooping dowm
imprinted on the Dammissara Road
arrests me on the cycle home
past the Buddha statue
the velvet firmament
dusky blue and brass gold stars
rustling undergrowth
where dogs sleep on the road
stars poke through the canopy of breadfruit
and I halt and pay attention to this sizzling magic
nocturnal crispness

Sri Lanka at peace now in knowing
I can leave having seen you
under this sky
showing me in layered ways
your response to a full life
the full moon topped up heart
pulled back a curtain
to the rhythm of this land
ancient ancient ancient people
working together interlocking

I can feel the bass of the sea
and the rain that woke up the tree frogs


------

I have been back in Scotland for a month now. The Scottish and Sri Lankan environment might as well exist on two different parallel planes, both are alive but in apparently opposite ways, moods and tones…

The final showing at the end of the residency was a really useful push to present a summation of ideas as they stood at that point. I finally got to see what my fellow artists had been cooking up in their individual projects. We were lucky in the group to have so many complimentary interests.  Together we collaboarated on songs sung out on Sue's boat. Our harmonies rolling out across the lagoon and competing with the storm that threatened to come in and shut down the gig.

I was more than happy to go to Sri Lanka and for it to work away subtly and not so subtly on my imagination. And that it did! I wanted to find ideas that I could bring back and continue to work on. There are things about the culture, history and ecology that Scotland needs to know about. Questions have been answered and curiosity has been awakened.

I have material for experimental film/documentary, concepts for audio visual installations, and music/songs that I am continuing to develop..ideas that keep burning and turning over in my mind. And something bigger - an installation and interactive performance that draws together my experience of  Sri Lanka and in the mediums that I want to experiment with. 

I am very grateful to have these concrete things even if there is more digging and contemplation to do. I have the gritty but welcome challenge now of how to realise them back home.

The joy of Sura Medura is you get that chance to see how you operate outside of your everyday circumstances - what fires up the imagination and what conditions set you free. In the interviews and research trips it was great for me to see what happens when you put the feelers out and reach out to people. And what happens when you open up to a new culture in general with the artists innate perspective. This gives me great faith in following up on this approach in the future. There are tools, attitudes and techniques that are going to stay with me. 

It is hard to imagine a more beautiful place. I feel in the two months I only got a tiny sense of the full richness and depth of the culture. I was touched by the generosity, friendliness and the hopeful spirit of the people.

I feel such sorrow for Sri Lanka after the Easter Sunday attacks.  I am in complete solidarity with you as you struggle with this wound.

It feels vital now to keep the relationship going with the country, to keep the learning alive, to stay in touch with friends there.

Sri Lanka I love you. I will return.

Thank you to the people for welcoming me in and making me wiser. I hope someday to repay you for this gift.






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