At Barefoot Gallery
From 27th October 2021 - 21st November 2021
Exactly a year ago Layla completed her travels within the island, the closest she could get to a sense of migrancy for an international residency that was awarded by Pro Helvetia.
Her own interrogation of the concept of home both literally and metaphorically, augmented this journey.
The art that came forth was from this repository of stories, on the move.
Extract from facingmaha.blogspot.com
November 2020
"Is it possible to conclude that assimilation/integration from both sides is a triumph, and not be dismissed as submission or loss of any kind; rather a birth of a new presence than an absence?
These are conflicting questions, dilemmas.
Integration occurs ecologically as well as in human terms because of the natives accepting the new species, or migrant, visitor accepting or challenging the conditions of the existing system as necessary to propagate or spread. It could be both, one or the other.
My own behavioural pattern at each given place indicates conscious change.
I am aware that I settled into spaces seamlessly and jarringly, both, harmoniously and disruptively.
In turn, there were similar reactions to my entry and presence."
Layla Gonaduwa is a self-taught, interdisciplinary artist, with a cathartic and haptic creative process. Her art confronts herself against societal politics and perception, historical narratives, memory and ecology. An explorative artist connecting viscerally through material use and subject matter, her work history includes painting, enameling, sculpture, woodcut, poetry and writing.
With a comprehensive body of work and shows behind her, this will be her sixth solo exhibition with Barefoot.