E X HIBI T IO N S + I N S TA L L AT IO N S
Just off the southernmost coast of India, located east across the Gulf of Mannar, sits a small island nation with a complex, storied past.
O
nce a stop along the ancient Silk Road, a vast system of trade routes that connected Europe with the Middle East and Asia, this nation, known for more than 100 years as Ceylon and now known as Sri Lanka, boasts a multidimensional history that spans more than 3,000 years, with a culture that was influenced by nearly every major human civilization and dominant world power, including the Persian Empire, Ancient Greece, Rome, and the European world, all of whom, at one time or another, jockeyed for power in the maritime age.
L E G A CY O F CE Y L O N : A R T A N D P H O T OGR A P H Y OF SRI L ANK A THROUGH NOVEMBER 6, 2022 ART OF ASIA GALLERIES
Legacy of Ceylon: Art and Photography of Sri Lanka explores the art history of this vibrant island nation that achieved its independence in 1948. Featuring more than 50 objects spanning 1,000 years, the exhibition provides an unprecedented glimpse into a time now lost and is a significant opportunity to experience some of the rarest examples of Sri Lankan art in the United States, many of which have never been on view publicly. The Museum’s dynamic collection of Sri Lankan art, which represents a portion of the objects in the exhibition, is the result of generous donations of objects over the past 20 years by Arizona collectors Drs. Coleene and Barry Fernando, the latter of whom was born in Sri Lanka and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1957. Legacy of Ceylon is the first exhibition organized by Phoenix Art Museum to focus on works from this renowned Sri Lankan art collection since The Guardian of the Flame: Art of Sri Lanka, organized by the Museum in 2003. With a wide range of objects, of both personal and devotional significance, the exhibition on view in the Art of Asia galleries offers a view into everyday life on the predominantly Buddhist island nation when it was known as Ceylon. Featured works date to as early as the sixth century, while the
MEMORIES FROM THE
RESPLENDENT I S L E 10
SPRING/SUMMER 2022 / PHXART MAGAZINE
