Sumi Perera
Sri Lankan-born artist Sumi Perera talks about her multi-faceted practice in just three minutes…..
‘The titles of my works are sometimes long & convoluted – much like my own 63-year-old life.
I was born in Sri Lanka, came to UK when I was three years old, and have since then led a nomadic existence with over twenty house moves. I have experienced a multicultural existence, which would been the same even if I had remained in Sri Lanka, because we had the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonizing us. We often had the ‘C’ word hurled at us - ‘coconuts’ – for we were seen as being brown on the outside but white on the inside.
Professionally I’m a hybrid too, though probably others would prefer to label me as a schizoid personality! I have been an artist for sixty years, and a doctor and scientist somewhere in the middle. Travel is of great importance to me, for example, I have made work inspired by Toulouse airport, which I visited when I was artist in residence at a nearby 9th Century abbey.
My work often explores how we humans are the only species of the animal kingdom to build mostly orthogonal spaces (that’s walls constructed at right-angles) to inhabit. So most works are built around these geometric considerations, though I sometimes do make curved prints.
We humans also use many forms of artificial lighting, which must have evolutionary effects on our diurnal rhythm and the environment. I sometimes make interactive installations where the colour changes with thermochromic ink, or where sound is produced with electroconductive inks. I make hybrid prints that are a combination of etching, aquatint, chine collé, embossing & stitched techniques that rest on a backdrop of rolled-on gradient that simulates light, even when the installation is unlit. The separate components are held together with magnets so that the sequence and alignment can be altered dependant on the location & space available.
I often transfer the final editorial control to the viewer and give them the artistic license to play with various formats. For example, lights can be activated & controlled by touch; I like to encourage viewers to have a play’.
Sumi Perera, Rebuilding the Built XII, etching, aquatint and hand-tinting
Perera received an MA in Book Arts from Camberwell College of Arts, London, in 2004. She has taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing and has curated several exhibitions. Her work is held in numerous public collections including Tate, London, and the Yale Centre for British Art, Connecticut, USA. She has won several international awards including the Prix de Print in 2015. Click here to enquire about Perera’s work.
