Adrift Examines the Quagmire of Migration
Photo courtesy of Saskia Fernando Gallery
Anushiya Sundaralingam, a Sri Lankan born artist based in Northern Ireland, presents Adrift, her first solo exhibition at Saskia Fernando Gallery, which wades through the quagmire of migration and is grounded in her personal experience of leaving her homeland during political unrest.
Sundaralingam, who is from Jaffna, migrated in the late 1980s amid the civil war. The emotional weight of the artist’s arduous journey continues to inform her practice with the recurring image of the boat serving as a metaphor for both departure and arrival. In seeking shared experiences of community and connection, her practice offers a poignant reflection on the uncertainty that shapes the lives of people across conflict zones worldwide.
“My work is deeply influenced by my surroundings and heritage, often experimenting with materials and methods to create pieces that are both visually striking and rich in meaning. This balance of innovation and tradition underpins my ongoing journey as an artist, ” says Sundaralingam.
Originally trained as a printmaker at the University of Ulster, Belfast, Sundaralingam’s practice expands to encompass mixed media, sculpture, installation, and performance art. Her work is deeply rooted in the complexities of identity, memory and displacement, reflecting her personal journey and the wider narrative of cultural transformation. She draws inspiration from her heritage and the interplay between natural and constructed environments, often blending organic and synthetic materials to explore relationships between self, place and belonging.
Currently based in Northern Ireland, the artist has participated in several international exhibitions. She is also featured in several notable collections including Queen’s University, Belfast, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Belfast and the National College of Art, Dublin. Sundaralingam is an alumna of the University of Ulster, Belfast and Brooke’s University, Oxford.
Anushyia answered questions from Groundviews on the impact of migration and her personal journey.
How has the boat’s symbolism evolved for you personally?
For me, the boat began as a very direct reference to my journey returning home from the UK to Jaffna during the Sri Lankan civil war – a journey made under extreme duress and danger. Over time, my feelings and use of boats within my work have grown into something layered: a vessel of memory, resilience and transformation. It is not only about escape but also about carrying culture, identity and fragments of home into new places.
Does the title Adrift reflect a personal or universal feeling?
Adrift speaks to both. Personally, it represents my own journey of migration, a sense of being unanchored between two places. The name of my exhibition also captures a wider, universal experience of displacement that resonates across cultures and histories – that uncertain inbetween space where belonging is questioned.
Which piece best embodies your balance of innovation and tradition?
Boats constructed from card were created using weave influenced by Jaffna cultural practices I observed in my childhood. The pigments, drawn from Kolam patterns, symbolise the sea in a conceptual way. Together they reflect the push and pull of heritage and modern identity.
How did printmaking influence your later mixed-media work?
Printmaking taught me the importance of layering, repetition and process. Those principles became foundations for my mixed-media work where I extend my practice beyond paper into fabric, sculpture and installation. The discipline of printmaking gave me both structure and the freedom to break rules.
What material choice in Adrift represents displacement and complexity?
In my mixed media sculptures, I use medical boxes to reflect the limited access to life saving supplies my community faced during the civil war. Alongside these, I work with fragile, translucent materials that contrast with heavier, grounded elements. This interplay mirrors the complexity of migration: the vulnerability of being unsettled and the resilience required for survival.
How do you balance personal narrative with universal migration themes?
Beginning with my own story I integrate similar experiences by others to connect with those in similar situations to my own. The work carries my personal mark and the universal story – gestures of making, fragments of memory – and is abstracted to a certain degree so others can find themselves in it. The balance comes from leaving space for shared interpretation.
Could you describe the creative process for your performance piece?
I begin by connecting with the audience, offering each person a small boat and then a word, inviting them to reflect on their own life journey alongside mine. I bring in gestures of movement – carrying, leaving and searching – while drawing on themes of the sea, boats and words to tell a story that is deeply personal yet also universal. Improvisation and repetition are central, allowing moments of vulnerability and resilience to emerge in real time.
How has your heritage influenced your Western artistic representation?
My art comes from my Sri Lankan background and where I live now in Belfast. The subjects, colours and textures of my work, become points of dialogue as intertwining threads.
How does the interplay of environments manifest in Adrift artworks?
Adrift brings the sea and the land into the same visual field. The fluidity of line and fabric suggests water and movement while solid structures hint at grounding and settlement. The works shift between openness and containment, echoing the tension of belonging to more than one environment.
What do you want visitors to the gallery to leave feeling?
I hope they leave with a sense of both empathy and reflection. Migration is not abstract – it is lived, felt, embodied. I want them to feel the fragility and strength within displacement and perhaps recognise echoes of their own journeys whether across seas or within themselves.
Adrift will be on view at SFG 138 Galle Road, Colombo 3 from September 12 to October 10.
