Not even 24 hours after the violent events of 9 May, the GotaGoGama protest grounds saw the structures that had been destroyed be rebuilt, and protestors went back to business as usual. Amidst this rebirth, there is now a prominent new addition to the movement – a monument that is now commonly known as the ‘slipper’ at GotaGoGama or as many have come to refer to it: The ‘Aragalaye Smarakaya’ – a monument to the struggle.
If you have been to the protest grounds since the events of 9 May, you would most certainly have noticed this imposing structure of a large slipper, stepping on a tear gas canister. Two items iconic to Lankan youth; one that is a staple of poverty separating the haves and the have-nots and those who reject convention, and the other a more recent addition to the Lankan zeitgeist.
Brunch spoke to the artist behind the concept, Salinda Roshan, a professional visual artist and a University of the Visual and Performing Arts alum. Roshan shared that his role in the struggle had been to nourish the minds of these protestors through his art. He noted that this particular structure, which was but one of his many contributions to the protest, was representative of the Sri Lankan people and their struggle, not only over the past month but over the past 70 years.
‘Aragalaye Smarakaya,’ in Roshan’s words, is synonymous with how the public, after having worked for these reckless and often predatory authorities for decades, have been faced with brutality and tears when they finally decided to raise their heads and say ‘enough’: “They gave us tears when we finally asked for more, finally asked for what we were owed. What I am showcasing here is how this canister brought the tears to the public, courtesy of these authorities who have done nothing but take, and finally when we have nothing left to give they draw tears from our eyes,” Roshan said. “We are all very familiar with this ‘bathroom slipper’. It is a slipper that is worn by those of us who are the working class, and to have this icon of the working class squash what the ruling class has served us is what I wanted to represent here. It is the strength of the determined.”
He said that originally he had hoped to be more direct by depicting those medals that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wore so proudly on his white shirt. However, he did not wish for this structure to become redundant once the purpose of the struggle was fulfilled: “When Gotabaya leaves, then what will become of this monument? It would be a relic of the past and so I wished for it to be something that is eternal and representative of the struggle,” he said.
Roshan’s work can be seen all around the protest grounds. He noted that while he had been responsible for much of the concepts that have been brought to life, it was the collective effort of numerous artists. There were several people who gave a helping hand to these works – Akash Perera, Malintha Perera, Samitha Peiris, Chathura Deepal, Mohomad Shabiq, Joysan Alexsander, D.M. Tharupathi (Babar), U.N. Tharupathi (Starlord), Lakshan Menuka, Madushanka Dimal, Vimukthi Sahan, Surin Mendis, Gathika Sahiru, and Udara Pasindu.
Some such examples of these artists’ collective contributions include the infamous garbage bags tied with the ‘satakaya’ – the red scarf that is now synonymous with the Rajapaksa clan. Then there were the water bottles trapping the satakaya within it, and according to Roshan, this was an effort to allow the public to release their pressures and to allow them a physical action where they could literally and figuratively trap their struggles and “close the lid on it,” allowing them to relieve themselves of some of the pressure they feel.
A most memorable demonstration at GotaGoGama was the performance art that Roshan and his artist collaborators performed following the shooting on 19 April in Rambukkana, when the Police opened fire at civilians, injuring many and killing a protestor: “We laid three dead bodies out and emoted the truth we felt. It was an incredibly emotional performance and many were moved by it. Even the Police standing at the barricade were seen shedding a tear,” said Roshan.
Roshan’s work as a professional artist is often shared in the western world and he shared that it was unfortunate that he had had to look outside of Sri Lanka to maintain a career as a professional visual artist. Despite having learnt the art of sculpture, he noted that in Sri Lanka, the culture of enjoying art, especially the capacity to experience public art was nonexistent.
However, he added that with the present struggle and the “opening of minds,” he saw the people’s potential: “I have seen how people interact with my sculpture at GotaGoGama, the way that many stand and stare at it, taking it in, how some take selfies with it, how some families come and pose beside it to capture a moment in time. All of these are ways to interact with public art and people are finally given this opportunity to experience that,” he said.
The artist also shared that in Sri Lanka, when it came to public art, work had often been State-sanctioned and was often likely representative of religious and cultural undertones promoted by the State. However, all around the world, art, especially public art, has grown into much more than that. Roshan also noted that times of social and economic change did much to push the evolution of art within a society – the French Revolution and the Renaissance were all the hallmarks of change and were powerful examples of how change pushed art and artists to grow.
In Roshan’s view, Sri Lanka was going through one such time of social change (and economic change as well, though this is very self-evident) – the people were excited to learn, they were learning to be civic-minded, they were learning to revolt and demand for their rights and what they were owed and this would all only prime their minds to enjoy and create art on a deeper level.
