MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES, ARTSOUTHASlA An international conference on the visual culturn of Bangladesh, , Pakistan and 2 - 13 July 2002, Manchester Art Gallery

Pragram me We have planned the programme so that there is time for discussion. Speakers will speak for 30 minutes followed by 15 minutes discussion. There are also panels of the day's speakers at the end of the day.

Friday 12 July 09.00 - 9.30 Registration and COW

Chairperson Dr Jacques Rangasamy (Chair of the board of Shisha)

Welcome and introduction to the mnference Virginia Tandy (Director, Manchester City Galleries) Dr Jacques Rangasamy

Professor Gulammohammed Sheikh (artist, curator, writer, India) Sites of art: other sites, other locations. Some aspects of Indian visual cutture'

Professor Salima Hashmi (artist, wrator, Pakistan) Imagery in women's art, with re-m to Pakistani painten

Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh) Contemporary visual cuRure in &ngla&sh

12.45- 14.15 Lunch

Chairperson John Holt (Shisha board member)

14.15 - 15.00 Pooja Sood (independent curator, co-ordinator KHOJ International Artists Association, India) A South Asian arts netwrk

Shishir Bhattacharjee (artist, Bangladesh) Painfers of the time

Tea

Panel of the day's speakers

Lord Mayor's Reception at Manchester Town Hall

Dinner at Manchester AR Gallery 1 Saturday 13 July Chairperson Professor Griselda Pollock (Director AHRB Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History, University of Leeds, UK)

Huma Mulji (artist, Pakistan) Zero down payment: the aesthetics of sunrivar

Professor Jyotindra Jain (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) The New Hindu Icons: Between the CuRic and the Exhibitory SP-

lftikhar Dadi (artist, curator, Comell University, USA) Cmft and udanism in contempwary South Asia

Anoli Perera (artist, curator, Sri Lanka) Contemporary trends in Sn' Lankan art

12.45- 14.00 Lunch

Chairperson Naseem Khan (Senior meer: Cultural Diversity, Arts Council of England)

Sudha Daniel (artist, curator, senior fine art ledurer, University of Derby, UK) British South Asian artists and inte~cuIturaIism

Dr Nima Poovaya-Smith (Head of Special Projects, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, UK) Meaning Making in the works of Loretta Braganza and Mah Rana

Tea

Panel of the day's speakers and conclusion MuLnPtE PERSPECTIVES - ARTSOUTHASA CONFERENCE (12-13 JULY 2002)

SYNOPSES OF PAPERS

Professor Salima Hashmi

It was in 1940 that Anna Molka AhW, the Founder of the Fine Arts Department of the Punjab Univlersity in Lahore was told by the then V~neelbrthat, The Fine Arb Department is lo admit only hmle ~Wents,so that they do not 'dutter up' the mmimportant Departments of Physics, Chemisby, and Botanfl Since then, mrmen have played a pivotal mle in PaWstarJ art and culbrm - their work reRecting some of the oontmdictkns of the Wantstate and society. The imagery in the wrk of mmen arbisls has moved hmndmidcing the Meabulary of their male ecrUeagues to a pamllel repertoire, which is doserbo the Wman's

The paradox of women's Visibility and imrisibiw, to quote htstorian Ayesha Jalal, mngdly together has nurtured mflecth and Minsumcbns In women's art practice. Women have evdved an wkth path of rfch hytwklity and unusual insight The talk will attempt to anam the anpukbns whkh have shaped this Imagery and attempt to make eonnectbns with the wider issues and coneems in the Pakistani art mov;ement.

I shall begin by examining how visual wttum of localities in ml Bangladesh kept their distinctive style and character even during the British oobnial times, and combined aesthetic and utilitarian values without consdoltsly aspiring to the conditions of art. But then a dedsk fmdum was established when elite visual cuhm consigned rural cuftuml pmdlcetions to the category.of 'I& art, while privileging its modern (or modernizing) art done by edmted artists in keeping with artistic (mostly painterly) eonventions of the west as 'high' art. (This happened in the '40s and '50s.) This distindion persisted and developed eventually into the cumnt stemtype of art vs. mft. However, within this division, artists who created 'art' nevertheless inaugurated an intensely active and fruitful phase of our history of art. Labelled simply as 'madm art', the works reflect a desire on the part of the artists to respond to the varid experiences of living, with styles and techniques that were fundamentally dimnt from the realist-rumantic practices of the past. I shall discuss the achievements of our modem artists, and how, Cw many artists (except for those who pursue pumly modernist forms-abstrad expssbnist, for example) 'p modem' and folk Comw were a kind of staple in their search for meaning. The art vs. crafl dewexisted in the academies asld in elii arch, but many artists ignored it while many others achraHy expbbd cmft ~Wfflonsand incorporated them in their work.

I shall then describe how mff and &-based art Mwdand diversified in the villages, and created their own traditions, and how some naive art forms (transport art, for example) actually btidgd the gap. And now,with wng pempihs of art (one development being the mwgence of postmodem pmctkes that valorize bcal wttures, aim la obMthe distindion betwen high and kw art and pmrnote dddsm)the twai~rtand walkam finally near meeting each other. The art vs. uaft debate is thus bsing its steam, but som new pmblemtk are being intmduced as the mass proddon of crafts. I shall end my lecture by mlsing some of the new Issues of the debate.

The use of#aff-baSBdMn~~~sbyIine~stsinSrilanh

A mewd role for craff based technhues and matefials wwcentm and surrounds the work of a numbof fine arbists in Srl Lanka. My paper examines the wttural, economic and political contexts whkh have brought this situatbn into being and lo- it within the wider pichrm of contemporary pmctice in Sri Lanka. The paper concludes with remarks about why notions of 'erafY may have been appropriated by fine artists within eumnt progmsh art practice and how aafl in turn has been conceptualiied as an effective means for radical commentary on art and the everyday.

PooJaSood

A South Asian arts nem

I am invofved in establishing a South Asian network fior the arts. I would like to addmss the notion of 'networking', its smpe and limitations within the South Asian context. I will enumerate on the workshop model which is central to our network and which currently includes artists in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Zero down payment: the aesthetics ofwwhd An u~ofkialfyestimated population of 15 milCion, the life line of our country's emmmy, the lam contributor to the state treaswy, the habitat of the poorest and the richest, visually opulent, paradoxid, and ~xcessh,the sprawling dty of Karachi Is Mayone of the few megadties of the m.

This vast eity is organically and offen inddentaiy dMded by sevetal Ibm: The hahour depictiq otd industry; the dmoomrmnbs that inh- pre and pst-partition Kamehi; gmwing emnomie ambition which divides its resldentSal areas as well as the newer, high end; and %spiring" consumer markets. Alongside expensive five-star hotels, the most imxpenshre biryani is atso . available. These dhrisbns seep into eaeh other, samkms through ambition w imhathn, someffm thmugh unintsnded omlaps whlch are fluidly absorbed and happfly adopted. Mngwithin Ws ~IWWare tradltknal markets, gbbal fmmthes, brand name stores and sibthat are imbetween.

In mcmt years, Karachi's gmngcapitalist eubhas spmd thmugh the city, airmditloning bdMithai shops, eompeling 'gola gma' to be W In Styrofoam cups and gMng birth to 3Way Bazaaf. This was'tmlitknatty 'Itwaar Bazaaf, a lowprieed w#M market selling food and some household products, which has ewhfed Mo a high end fleamarket, empbyhg hundmds of Afghan mhgws as portmt and mhhg to rich ho- need for everything hmHlestem style home deoorabkn, to peeudo 4hnk aafts, pirated VCDs and Dm, smuggled Amantiques, eheap eeraunie potby, and charrffeuts and servslnts.

Amldst all the aaos, one glimpses popular urban a&Mks, the notions of window deccNation, hybrid consum strategies, incidentalty beautiful oompo&hns of colour and form, traditional hosphlhy and economk competltfon, detwmined by demand, as Hlell as inhwtbn throrrgtr the media, theinRuxofrefugees,andexodexodusof~.

Gmwing consumerism in mmt years has seen battles between cowrate giants fought owthe city. Coke and Pep4 consume old tea houses with aggm'he marketing stmtegies and htrge swns of money buy brge chunks of our visual space and brand our minds with their logos. Mdlonalds and Kentucky Fried Chkken artificially create rnarkeb to fed their products. All protests from the inhabitants are gunned down with smarter adverbidng. Colonel Saunders of KFC competes for attenlion with Bandu Khan Kabab house and Shell, PSO and Calkex construct imposing filling stations, taking up more and mom space and mplacing old, loved, unpredictable landmarks, by their global colours, robbing the city of its memory.

Pakistani society is not homogenous, but distinctly divided into economic strata, which determine notions of "tasteu, value system, education and cukural position. To those living on the higher end of bhe monetary scale, the soul of the dty i.e. its popufar culturn and all activity associated with it, is the a~thef,something that was not engaged with urrtil a 'nouveau ethnw became fashionable and accepted. This kind of irrtemal imperialism makes us tourists in our homeland. The complexity of multiple culhrres -'sting where everyone does not exist in the same time scale, whm the frame of reference differs drastically, gives rise to cultural misunderstandings. Contemporary lii hence defies categorization, slips away from every delinition and them Is ahysanother story.

Professor Jydndra Jain

The paper will deal with the transformation of Hindu worship thmgh its new cum imagery mdtlng fFom the demicmaism of the colonial art s~KKIIs, theatrteal performamas on the proscenium stage and phoQography in the age of mechsnfeal mpmducbn and the new mgdk Onoe mutedand widely drwlated, the Hindu image beoomes -le b polilpractices and a vehide lor marketing pmd-. Wrthkr this framewwk the questions of identity and autherrtidty will be discussed.

Crafts kr South Asia have formed an important, perhaps defini mle in understanding the creathrity and expressiv;eness of the vkml and material whre of South Mi.This Mea of "eraftsm,influenced by the Ads and Craffs mvmmtof the nineteenth century aml by Havell, Coomarswamy and ohmh the earfy twmtkth century, has privilegeti the rural and the tradbnal. mr,with the masshfe incmase of uhnism accompanied by the profusion of industrial ornamental commodities in the late hnrentieth century, this understanding of "crafts" needs to be hiiricized and ~valuated.This paper examines how the concept of the "everyday" might be helpful in understanding the role of "eraffs" in wntemporary urban South Asia.

Anoll Perem

In order to contextualize contemporary Sri Lankan art one could place it in two diffeent situations. One is to explore the manner in which Sri Lankan artists define themselves in relation to their own cultural and poltkal context. The other is to see how €hey come to terms with the contemporary global art and its trans-national nahm. The contempontry art scene in Sri Lanka in many way emerged out of a situation whieh on the one hand has its roots in the hlfied modernism that emerged in the 1940s along with the agitation for independen- from the British nrb. On the dkhand, it is bound with the dynamks of change that aeeompanied the qmn mmicpolicies in the post 1977 pew whkh atlowed gkbal foms to Wlyflow into the country. Them was a climate of pdMcal violence in the late 79808 due to the Sinhala youth @sing in Southem Sri Lanka and mititarbtion of the inter ethnic canRict between the Sinhalas and Tamils. Within this ewimnment, the eontmpmry. art scene has produced a very youthful amcommunity whkh has been able to sustain the dynamism and diversity in -8s and methodologies in art making.

While them are many diverse art practkes am could identify thm broadly defined art making tendencies. Or#r is to gka mcb political narration that dacumerrEs and recounts the vblenee and destrucbion of war and eonffid. The second tendency Is b assume the subjectivity of a casualty of the urban myth and reality. The thkrl themafic abgorption for atlists has become the -Rural on dhch of gbbakthn, exhmconsumerism and emerging puth culturn.

OnekeyobgenratknthateanbeWetthatatmnttheartistsm cmating Mstorical narratives for whii the mfwmcepolnt is the pmsent, and thy are muslytrying to ddne art expression that is skuabed within the 'cumnt cultural While they attempt to align the 'personat' with the 'social', they portray themselves as playem, nehptiatom and consumers of social triumphs and failums+They beo~ne the points of contad for wiss-crossing histories, gkbal farces and temporal sequences whem their art becomes a negotiated expmsion of such contesting energies. MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES - ARTSOUTHASIA CONFERENCE (12-13 JULY 2002)

BIOGRAPHIES OF SPEAKERS AND CHAlRPERSONS

Dr Jacques Rangasamy Jacques Rangasamy trained as a sculptor at the Royal College of Art. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on aspects of non - European influence on European sculpture. He teaches visual arts and cultural studies at the University of Salford

Professor S. Manzwrul Islam S.Manzoorul lslam studied English Literature at Dhaka UniversZty, which he joined as a lecturer in 1974. He gained his PhD from Queen's University, Canada. He became a professor at Dhaka University 1989. He was also a part-time teacher of Art History at the Institute of Fine Art, Dhaka University for several years. He has written extensively on art, literary theory and subaltern historiography. He has written a hook on Aesthetics (Dhaka:Bangla Academy, 1985) and has published many articles on Bangladeshi artists, art history and art trends. He guest edited the special Bangladesh issue of Art and the Islamic World, a journal that comes from London (1999). He is currently writing a book on tne history of Bangladesh art (to be published by university Press Limited) and isediting a book on modem Bangladeshi painters. He has been on the organiring committee of the Asian Art Biennale, Dhaka for the last 12 years. He curated a number of exhibitions, including one in Delhi (of Bangladeshi artists), one for the Bengal Gallery in Dhaka (women artists) and another for the Indian High Commission, Dhaka. He regularly lectures on art a the Bangladesh Shilpakala (fine art) Institute.

S. Manmorul Islam is also a short story writer. Four volumes of his short stories have been published. He received the highest literary award of the country, the Bangla Academy Prize, in 1996.

John Holt John Holt is an artist, curator and writer with special interests in non-Western nr~lh I-- mmminml;mm+inn -nA +kn.-mmqfi;kr -4 mr) Cn+rmn&rm UAkm- ~.Il*nnnkr UUbbWl UU, I # 1-1 ylblUlIUU%lUl l ul lU LI lU CHpUWIIJ UI W.II b %W InU# IUIUO 0 I I. I OV 0 tWU IWDIbIUD I LUO Yale University Press, Third Text, Art and the Islamic World and Raw Vision, amongst others. John Holt is a member of the board of Shisha.

Shannini Pereira Sharmini Pereira was born in 1970 in the UK. She graduated from Edinburgh University in 1992 with an MA in Art History and went on to complete an MA in Visual Arts Administration: Curating and Commissioning Contemporary Art, at the Royal College of Art between 1995-97. Since then she has been working as an independent curator and in 2001 joined eyestorrn.com as Artist Liaison Asia.

Pooja Sood Pooja Sood is an independent curator and arts manager and lives in . She is the chairperson and coordinator of KHOJ International Artists Association which is an autonomous, artist-led registered society aimed at promoting intercultural understanding through exchange. She has co-ordinated the KHOJ international artists' workshop in Delhi for the past five years. She has worked with artists' communities in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal and has initiated similar workshops in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. She is in the process of establishing a communications network for artists in South Asia.

Pooja Sood is consultant to the Apeejay New Media Gallery, the first new media gallery in lndia and will be curating a series of exhibions for the gallery over the next two years. Amongst other consubncy projects, she instituted a high profile international artists residency programme at the Jindal Steel Mills in February 2001. She was the Director of the Eicher Gallery in New Delhi from1 994-98 during which time she initiated an arts education programme for school children and adults and curated over 20 exhibions.

She has travelled several exhibions in lndia and abroad .The Exhibition "From goddess to pinup: icons of femininity in Indian calendar art" which she mutated with anthropologist Dr Patricia Ubemi is cumntly touring Europe. She was curator in residence at the Fukuoka Asian Arts Museum. She has written on art for the Art India magazine and is the editor of several catalogues.

Pooja Sood has masters degrees in art history and an MBA Business Administration (marketing). She has also received a diploma in Art Management from the European Summer Academy from the International Centre of Cultural Management in Salzburg, Austria. She is recipient of a Junior Fellowship in the field of Management of Cultural Institutions, by the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, 1999-2000.

Professor Griselda Pollock Griselda Pollock is Professor of Social and Critical Histories of Art at the University of Leeds where she is now Director of the AHRB Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History (CentreCATH). This is a transdisciplinary centre for research combining fine art, histories of art, cuttural studies, Jewish studies, Feminist Studies in the intemationai Visual Arts. She has written extensively on feminist questions in the study of the histories of art and contemporary art and artists. Her most recent publications include Differencing the Canon: Feminist Desire and the Writing of Art's Histories (Routledge, 1999) and Looking Back to the Future: Essays on Art, Lie and Death ( Routledge, 2000). She is currently completing a book called The Case Against Van Gogh and preparing a monograph on Charlotte Salomon's Liior Theatre?. Information on CentreCATH's activities is available on www.leeds.ac.u klcaW

Huma Mulji Huma Mulji received her BFA in Sculpture from the lndus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, in 1995. Her art practice is wide -ranging: she teaches art at high school level and frequently gives tutorials at college level. She has co-curated exhibitions like *CityscapesUand other projects like 'Aar Paat', an exchange of works between Mumbai and Karachi, to be shown at roadside shops. Since 1998 she has been involved with Tehrik-eNiswan, a Karachi based theatre group, designing sets and costumes for their many proscenium and street plays. Huma was also part of the working group for VASL, the first international artists workshop that was hetd at Gadani, in January 2000. Huma has shown her work consistently, both nationally and internationally.

Huma Mulji's work reflects the crty in its muMkrs mntr*dir*hns. !r! % rich color and visual order within chaos, often thmugh the use of cheap plastic toys and colourful vinyl. The more recent work employs industrial methods of production to 'make art', a take on consumerism and the art market, an age okl attempt to deglamourize art, and to bridge the gap between audience and artist. Parallel to this work, she has made relief paintings using mosaic floor tile patterns. These works deal with the notion of camouflage within a patriarchal household, of individuals shrouded in a fomd unity. Patterning reflects rhythm and repetition and like supplication encloses within its comforting sameness, ~ontradictoryelements and makes it one. The works optimistlcalty play in- between boundaries, sometimes narrative, sometimes inquiring and sometime-s celebrating. k -

Professor Jyotindra Jain Jyotindra Jain, formerly Director of the Crafts Museum, New Delhi, is Protessor and Ban, School ot Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A renowned authority on Indian folk and popular arts, Professor Jain is author of the books Kalighat Paintings: Images from a Changing World, and Ganga Devi: Tradition and Expression in Mithila Painting. lftikhar Dad1 lftikhar Dadi is a doctoral candidate in History of Art at Cornell University. His research interests include modem and contemporary art; popular culture; global visual modernities; and South Asian and American studies. As an artist, he has exhibited widely (with Elizabeth Dadi), including at the Sao Paulo Bienal (1998); the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, (1999); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2000); the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2000); the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2001); and the Miami Art Museum (2001). Their work is included in the publications Lefs Entertain (Walker Art Center, 2000), and Fresh Cream (Phaidon Press, 2000). He has co-curated (with Salah Hassan) the exhibition Unpacking Europe at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and co-edited (with Salah Hassan) Unpacking Europe (Mi, 2001 ), a volume of critical texts associated with the exhibition theme.

Anoli Perera Anoli Perera was born in 1962 in . She studied political science, economics and sociology at the University of Colombo. In 1986 she enrolled at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Colombo from where she obtained a postgraduate diploma in International Affairs. Fmm 1988 - 1992 she followed the Adult Education Art Program in the City College, Santa Barbara, California. Later, while attending Art Works, the visual art school of Princeton, she trained in stone carving under the' sculptor Milt Liebson. She currently works as a painter, sculptor and installation artist. Her paintings incorporate the concept of 'bricolage' where fragments from different written texts, raw materials, objects and painted surfaces are juxtaposed together giving a textured surface. They also transcend the two dimensional aspect of painting. As a sculptor, she has worked with stone, steel and cement as well as junk metal from motor-car parts. At present she uses cloth, thread, lace and paper as raw material for her sculptures and installations. Her subject matter always comes out of various situations and experiences in the social context in which she lives. As such, her work reftects certain social and political issues relevant to the context of her living. Recently her work has focused on 'woman and the issues that confront her'.

Apart from art making, she writes on art and organizes and curates art events. She is the Coordinator of the Thee* International Artists Workshops, held in Sri Lanka and a founder member of the Theertha I,L,,,&:,,,l A ,,,,:,&:,, ...L:,L ,,,,,.,,, &L, ..., A.,L,,, Il llGl l lQ&IVlla1 mD3VbIQLIVI I Wl lltl l VI~~I ll lti WUl hDI WpO. She council member of the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts and also a member of the National Art Council of Sri Lanka.

Naseem Khan Naseem Khan joined the Arts Council of England as Senior Policy Officer with special responsibility for cultural diversity in 1996, but she has been actively engaged in that area for thirty years. She wrote the pioneering The Arts Britain Ignores in 1976, and was founderico-ordinator of the first national umbrella body for all non-indigenous arts activities, MAAS (Minorities Arts Advisory recent publications include Differencing the Canon: Feminist Desire and the Writing of Art's Histories (Routledge, 1999) and Looking Back to the Future: Essays on Art, Life and Death ( Routledge, 2000). She is currently completing a book called The Case Against Van Gogh and preparing a monograph on Charlotte Salomon's Life or Theatre?. Information on CentreCATH's activities is available on www.leeds.ac.uWcathl

Huma Mulji Huma Mulji received her BFA in Sculpture from the lndus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, in 1995. Her art practice is wide -ranging: she teaches art at high school level and frequently gives tutorials at college level. She has co-curated exhibitions like "Cityscapes" and other projects like "Aar Paaf, an exchange of works between Mumbai and Karachi, to be shown at roadside shops. Since 1998 she has been involved with Tehrik+Niswan, a Karachi based theatre group, designing sets and costumes for their many proscenium and street plays. Hurna was also part of the working group for VASL, the first international artists workshop that was held at Gadani, in January 2000. Huma has shown her work consistentty, both nationally and internationally.

Huma Mulji's work refleck fin city in its m~nt!rrrsmMdlrtirrns. In ik rich color and visual order within chaos, often through the use of cheap plastic toys and colourfut vinyl. The more recent work employs industrial methods of prnduction to 'make art', a take on consumerism and the art market, an age old attempt to dwlamourize art, and to bridge the gap between audience and artist. Patallel to this work, she has made relief paintings using mosaic floor tile patterns. These works deal with the notion of camouflage within a patriarehal household, of individuals shrouded in a forced unity. Patterning reflects rhythm and repetition and like supplication encloses within its comforting sameness, contradictory elements and makes it one. The works optimistically play in- between boundaries, sometimes narrative, sometimes inquiring and sometimes celebrating.

Professor Jyotindra Jain Jyotindra Jain, formerly Director of the Crafts Museum, New Delhi, is Protessor and Dean, School ot Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A renowned authority on Indian folk and popular arts, Professor Jain is author of the books Kalighat Paintings: Images from a Changing World, and Ganga Devi: Tradition and Expression in Mithila Painting.

lftikhar Dadi Iff ikhar Dadi is a doctoral candidate in History of Art at Cornell University. His research interests include modem and contemporary art; popular culture; global visual modernities; and South Asian and American studies. As an artist, he has exhibited widely (with Elizabeth Dadi), including at the Sao Paulo Bienal (1998); the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Australia (1999); the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2000); the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2000); the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2001); and the Miami Art Museum (2001). Their work is included in the publications Lers Entertain (Walker Art Center, 2000), and Fresh Cream (Phaidon Press, 2000). He has m-curated (with Salah Hassan) the exhibition Unpacking Europe at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and m-edited (with Salah Hassan) Unpacking Europe (Mi, 2001 ), a volume of uitical texts associated with the exhibition theme.

Anoli Perera Anoli Perera was born in 1962 in Colombo. She studied political science, economics and sociology at the University of Colombo. In 1986 she enrolled at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Colombo fmm where she obtained a postgraduate diploma in International Affairs. From 1988 - 1992 she followed the Adult Education Art Program in the City College, Santa Barbara, California. Later, while attending Art Works, the visual art school of Princeton, she trained in stone carving under the sculptor Milt Liebson. She currently works as a painter, sculptor and installation artist. Her paintings incorporate the concept of 'bricolage' where fragments from different written texts, raw materials, objects and painted surfaces are juxtaposed together giving a textured surface. They also transcend the two dimensional aspect of painting. As a sculptor, she has worked with stone, steel and cement as well as junk metal from motor-car parts. At present she uses cloth, thread, lace and paper as raw material for her sculptures and instaltations. Her subject matter always comes out of various situations and experiences in the social context in which she lives. As such, her work reflects certain social and political issues relevant to the context of her living. Recently her work has focused on 'woman and the issues that confront her'.

Apart from art making, she writes on art and organizes and curates art events. She is the Coordinator of the Theerhta International Artists Workshops, held in Sri Lanka and a founder member of the Theertha I,L,-*L:---l I1 ---,:-A:,, .*.L:,L -----I--- LL, -..,"I.-L,,, rnL- :- a~ IL~II IQCIUI la~M33VCliOlIUl I WI ~IC~Il ua ga1 IIL~~it I= UVUI rial ~up~.GI I= 13 Z council member of the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Ads and also a member of the National Art Council of Sri Lanka.

Naseem Khan Naseem Khan joined the Arts Council of England as Senior Policy Officer with special responsibility for cultural diversity in I996. but she has been actively engaged in that area for thirty years. She wrote the pioneering The Arts Britain Ignores in 1976, and was founderlco-ordinator of the first national umbrella body for all non-indigenous arts activities, MAAS (Minorities Arts Advisory Service). A writer, broadcaster, policy developerlanalyst and administrator, she wrote a weekly column in broad cultural issues for The New Statesman and was Theatre Editor of the magazine Tim Out. Her jobs include executive rn ordinator of the Academy of Indian Dance. Her research consultancy projects - both with the grouping, Comedia, and independently - include a study of the role of urban parks and open space, the use of public libraries, and the social impact of the arts. In 1999 she received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to cultural diversity.

Dr. Nima Poovay*Smith Nima Poovaya-Smith has written and lectured extensively on a wide range of subjects relating to the visual arts and literature. When she was Senior Keeper, International Arts at Bradford Art Galleries and Museums she curated a number of historical and contemporary exhibions that won national and international acclaim including "Golden Treasury: Jewellery from the Indian sub-continent"; "Worlds Beyond: Death and the Afterti in Art"; "An Intelligent Rebellion: Women Artists from Pakistan" and "101 Saris from India". She was also responsible for building up the Transcultural Collections (comprising modem and contemporary art, textiles, calligraphy, ceramics, glass, and gold and silver artefacts) as well as the creation of the unique Transcuttural Gallery at Camright Hall.

Before she took up her new post as Head ot Special Projects at tne National Museum of Photography, Film and Television she was Dimctor of Visual Arts at Yorkshim Arts where she led a number of policy initiatives as well as the creation of the Year of the Artist programme for the Yorkshim region.